


Dare To Forget Me

by noblecrescent



Category: Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Angst, Banter, Comfort, Crime Fighting, Crime Scenes, Crimes, Cutesy, Detectives, Developing Relationship, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Humor, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Lawyers, Mentions of Rape, Rape Recovery, Rape/Non-con Elements, Romance, Sass, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-28
Updated: 2019-06-24
Packaged: 2019-07-03 17:15:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 13
Words: 66,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15823386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noblecrescent/pseuds/noblecrescent
Summary: Detective Montserrat Novak originally planned to transfer to SVU but mysteriously withdrew her papers. Nine months later, Olivia Benson pulls her profile up when Montserrat becomes a material witness to an SVU case. From there on out, Montserrat is permanently interrelated with SVU whether she would want or not. Now she finds herself dealing with Detectives who strive to make justice for those in need and an ADA whom she seems to have a talent at pulling all his right strings.





	1. A Runaway

**Author's Note:**

> As promised, I had to turn this character into a full story-wise character with our SVU squad and our ADA Barba. So, if anyone recognizes this OC, she is derived from a collection of one-shots posted on my account under the name "The Detective & the ADA". This story will follow canon cases as well as arcs of my own creations. Also, due to the nature of the series' themes, I gave the rating as 'mature'.
> 
> P.S: I picture the OC Montserrat to look like the actress Ellie Kemper.  
> Additionally, Kara Mackie looks like the actress Leah Pipes.

Sirens blared in a cold New York street. Flashes of light from firefighters, ambulances and police cars joined together in the street, lighting the buildings on both sides of the street. Most of them were business buildings but the few that were apartments had their windows opened to see below.

Unfortunately, there was a victim being brought into an ambulance. The girl was unconscious but it wasn't too surprising due to the state she was in. Someone hurt her with passion.

"Ma'am? Just wait here, a paramedic will be with you shortly," a cop was telling a second woman, a ginger, on the scene. Said woman was holding a towel around her palm to slow down the blood of a cut. Her dark brown eyes flickered from the cops to the ambulances, scared of what would come next. She knew the process all too well but the moment wasn't the right one.

As soon as the cop turned her attention away, the ginger made a getaway. Due to the gravity of the situation, it was easy slipping away from the scene. The cops hadn't finished taping off the crime scene and by the time someone figured out she was missing, she was already in a cab.

~0~

Sergeant Olivia Benson and Detective Amanda Rollins reported to the crime scene only twenty minutes after the arrival of the others. By that time, the victim had already been taken to Bellevue hospital. Once the Sergeant got word of what happened in a brief minute, she went off on the attentive cop in question.

"You're telling me we had a witness who saw everything and you  _lost_  her?" Olivia Benson had been at the job for about fourteen years and yet somehow she was still stunned sometimes by the mistakes she saw in her line of work.

The cop stammered while he made an excuse for his lack of attention but Olivia knew it was pointless to even argue it. The mistake was done.

"You know what, just tell us you got a name from her."

"I didn't," the cop hated his situation at the moment. "It was a rush and -and it's my first night on the field."

"What did she look like?" Amanda tried another way to get some valuable information. The cop looked too green to hassle for the mistake.

"Uh, dark orange hair…" the cop thought hard for a moment, "Dark brown eyes. Baggy clothes. She was wearing a baggy green jacket. Um...she had a purse but she took that I guess. And she had wound on her palm." The last detail pulled both women's attention. The cop realized he should have started with that. "I-I guess the perp must have cut her or something. We gave her a cloth in the meantime."

"Great, and you still let her get away," Olivia mumbled to herself after jotting down the description. "Thanks."

As she and Amanda walked off, the blonde detective thought about something. "If she had a cut - a stab wound…"

"Then she had to have gone to a hospital," Olivia said for she had thought the same thing too.

While their victim underwent her treatment - remaining unconscious for the entire duration - the detectives and Sergeant put all their focus on getting as much evidence as they could from the scene. A decent amount of that time was also put into finding the missing witness who turned out to be the only witness.

"Our victim-" Detective Nick Amaro was pinning a photograph of their rape victim on their pinboard, "-Hayley Connors, is still under but we do have the obvious evidence of a violent attack. CSU found blood at the scene but so far it only matches that of Hayley's."

"Yeah, but it corroborates with the story of the knife used to cut our missing witness," Detective Fin Tutuola, or Fin, reminded them. "But let me guess, knife hasn't been recovered yet?"

Detective Sonny Carisi's languid hand gesture was enough to answer. "If only it were that easy, huh?"

"You should know that by now," Detective Munch added on with the same sarcasm.

Amanda scoffed from her seat at the table. Her attention was on her computer screen where a footage of a hospital ER room was streaming. "I may have a view on the witness, though.

"Hey, Liv?" Fin called their temporary Sergeant from her office. "Amanda may have the witness!"

Olivia came in a hurry to see the footage along with the others. Amanda replayed the specific time where a ginger in a green, baggy coat arrived at an ER reception desk. She was still holding the cloth the cop mentioned she'd been given at the scene.

"Definitely her," Amanda concluded once she checked over the description they had of the woman.

"She looks familiar," Olivia's admission came as a surprise to the detectives. She met their curious gazes with confused expression. "I don't know who she is but...the face…"

The footage didn't exactly show the woman all too well but it was enough to get the case moving. Still getting that brief familiar vibe, Olivia decided to go to the hospital herself, along with Nick, to see what they could figure out about the woman.

~ 0 ~

"Yes, I remember her," a nurse at the ER reception of the Lenox Hill Hospital nodded her head after Nick showed her the photograph of the ginger woman. "Poor thing came with a slashed palm."

"Great, did you get her name? Her address?"

The nurse gave a kind smile and shook her head. "Sorry Detectives, I'm not at liberty to give you that information."

"It's Sergeant, first of all," Olivia set her hands on her hips and sternly looked at the woman, "And second of all, this woman is a material witness for our rape case. Besides, she was hurt too and odds are it was by the same perp so she needs to speak with us."

The nurse looked around the room, clearly in a conflict. "I can't give you the address because she didn't put one down."

Nick and Olivia exchanged glances with each other. This mysterious woman was turning out to be more of a hassle than previously thought.

"She didn't put one down?" Olivia repeated. "And you didn't notice that?"

"We were a little more preoccupied with her state," the nurse said, about to elaborate when Nick cut in.

"Give us her name then. Now, please."

The nurse sighed but ultimately obliged. "She wrote down Montserrat Novak on the paperwork."

Olivia raised an eyebrow. "That was her name?" the nurse nodded her head, definitely looking sure of it. Behind her, both Nick and Amanda exchanged knowing glances. "Did she say anything else? Where she was coming from?"

"No, she was just here for the slash," the nurse replied.

"Okay…" Olivia gave her thank you and turned away, but even her walking pace had picked up in an unusual stride.

"Hey, Liv, you think what we're thinking?" Nick had to ask as they exited the building.

"I knew she looked familiar," Olivia said, though neither Nick nor Amanda wasn't sure if it had been the answer to his question or if she'd just been talking to herself.

~ 0 ~

"Detective Montserrat Novak from the Homicide division in Queens," Olivia pulled up the photograph of the familiar ginger woman for the rest of the squad to see. "She also happens to be a cousin of one of our previous ADAs: Casey Novak."

"Who's now Manhattan's Homicide ADA," Fin nodded.

" _She_ was our witness?" Sonny raised an eyebrow. The mysterious detective seemed too put together to be such a mess for a witness.

"Yeah," Olivia took a seat at the edge of the table, arms crossed.

"And you know her how…?" Nick asked the winning question everyone was thinking about.

"I don't know her," Olivia clarified first. "I knew  _of_  her."

"Casey never mentioned she had a family member on the job," Munch leaned back against his chair, eyes examining the photo of Detective Novak. "They don't look alike."

"If you guys haven't met then...what?" Amanda shrugged. "Did Casey talk about her or something?"

"Almost nine months ago, Montserrat-" Olivia pointed at the screen, "-was set to be my replacement at SVU after I took the Sergeant's test."

"My partner?" Nick immediately took interest at that moment. Olivia gave another nod.

"Clearly she didn't make it or else I wouldn't be here," Sonny smirked. His transfer papers were put in faster after the spot before him opened up. Now he knew why.

"What a shame," Fin's joke was met a playful roll of eyes from the new detective.

"So where is she, then?" Munch asked. "Back at Homicide?"

"I have no idea," Olivia got up from the table, unfolding her arms to gently graze her fingers over the table. "She had all the paperwork to transfer - she looked like the right candidate - but then she just retracted. There was never an explanation."

"Should we start making calls to Homicide?" Amanda wondered as she closed her laptop.

"Why bother when we can go straight to the family. Let's just ask Casey," Finn wondered what the ADA would have to say about this once they informed her.

"At this point, it might just be easier," Munch agreed on the tactic. 

"It is," Olivia nodded and started heading out.

"Wait a minute," Sonny called to the woman, only stopping her for a second, "Shouldn't we call Barba then first?"

"Why? I'll get him there anyways," Olivia shrugged and continued on out.

"A Sergeant and a fellow ADA to deal with?" Finn turned to his co-workers, unable to keep his smile from showing. "I'd like to see what poor Casey does."

~ 0 ~

Olivia was set to find Casey and have a civilized conversation about the situation. She honestly didn't think they'd need to subpoena Montserrat, but if things got to that point then she wouldn't hesitate.

This was exactly what her conversation with SVU's ADA, Rafael Barba, sounded like. He was surprised to find their missing witness was related to a fellow co-worker.

"I think Casey will understand our situation and she'll get us in contact with Montserrat," Olivia said for the third time since she got to Rafael's office.

"It sounds like your assuring _yourself_ ," he noticed.

She stopped pacing in front of his desk to momentarily look at him. "I worked with Casey for years. She was our longest ADA so she knows exactly what our situation looks like."

"Right," Rafael agreed on that matter, but he then added, "However, I doubt any of her cases had her own family as a witness. If this Montserrat purposely ran from the scene it doesn't exactly give good credibility."

"We don't know what happened nor why she did," Olivia pointed him to stop. "But she's a Detective - and she wanted to transfer to SVU - so she should be willing to help."

"Exactly, she  _should_ be willing to help us. But she ran off," Rafael didn't think he needed to explain more than that. "Exactly what kind of Detective does that?"

"You start asking those questions, we lose the case even before we step into the courtroom," Olivia warned. She checked her phone for the time and saw it was past noon. "Casey's lunch hour ended, right?"

"Yeah," Rafael got up from his chair and levelled a look with the woman. "I have to warn you Olivia, Casey might just protect her cousin."

"I know Casey and she wouldn't. You know Casey and you know she wouldn't," Olivia started heading for the office doors. "Plus, if we tell her that her cousin is our only witness in this case, she'll be more than willing to help us."

"She better because as of now, Detective Novak would be the only one who could tell us what happened," Rafael bitterly said as he followed Olivia. It irked him this runaway Detective was the only person who could make or break his case. "Hayley doesn't remember-"

"-yeah, because she was _drugged_ ," Olivia reminded him.

"True and I'll be sure to mention that in court. But the point still stands that she can't talk much about the rape if she doesn't remember."

"I know," Olivia sighed, about to retort when they both heard an ongoing argument from the hallway.

"...you know the deal…"

"Of course I do, Casey! I have to appear but - would you stop walking so fast!?"

"I have a meeting with a Detective-"

"-listen to me Casey!"

"Could it be _that_ easy?" Rafael whispered to Olivia as the two continued to listen.

"Let's find out," Olivia stepped out into the hallway. As soon as they did, they spotted the familiar figure of Homicide ADA Casey Novak striding down the hall with a smaller ginger haired woman following behind her.

"I know it was wrong but I was scared!" the ginger woman was still shouting despite the attention she was getting from other people passing by. "I'm not at my best!"

"You know exactly what you need to do, Montse. They're good people-"

"-but it doesn't change my situation!"

Casey whirled around and met the woman's gaze. "You know what you need to do. And if you don't, I'll bring you in myself." She left the woman with that and headed into her office.

Olivia was not going to give the woman a chance to flee again. "Scuse me?" she started for the woman in a hasty pace. "Detective Montserrat Novak? I'm Sergeant Olivia Benson and I need to…" but Olivia trailed off when Montserrat slowly turned around.

There was one detail no one had bothered to give the SVU squad.

Montserrat Novak was pregnant.


	2. Novak, Witness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Montserrat speaks to SVU about what she saw on the night of the attack.

"Right this way," Olivia helped Montserrat into Rafael's office. Rafael reached the desk first and pulled out a chair for Montserrat.

"Thank you," she said to both of them. It was a struggle to sit without having to basically drop herself down, but almost nine months into a pregnancy made every daily activity a challenge. Her dark brown eyes flickered between the ADA and the Sergeant while an awkward silence fell over the room.

The two had obviously been expecting a fierce detective willing to literally run away from them out in the hallway. Instead, they had a pregnant detective who would eventually need help getting up from her chair.

Montserrat Novak was an average height woman with fair skin. She had dark ginger hair that was wavy with straight bangs covering her forehead. "Casey mentioned your name," Montserrat said to Olivia. "She said I would have to talk to you…"

"Yes, um…" Olivia briefly glanced at Rafael, both lost on how to even begin with the woman. "I have to be honest, we are a little perplexed about this situation..."

"Because...I'm pregnant? Or because I fled from a crime scene?" Montserrat's humor relieved some of the awkwardness in the room.

Rafael smiled as he took his own seat across her. "Both."

She smiled back. "I don't run from crime scenes. I'm a Detective, but...this time it's different."

"Right, we can understand that," Olivia pulled up the chair next to Montserrat. "We've been looking for you, Montserrat."

"I'm sorry," Montserrat tucked some hair behind her ear. "I...I panicked. You understand that I'm not at my best state right now. I do more waddle than walk or... anything else at this point."

"Why did you leave?" Rafael asked the hard question she knew she'd have to face sooner or later. "We have paramedics claiming you were slashed with with a knife..."

Montserrat raised the hand that was indeed bandaged. "I took care of myself. And I just wasn't supposed to be on the street at that time. I'm..."

Both Olivia and Rafael gave her a minute for her to continue, but it seemed like Montserrat was having trouble. 

"Miss Novak, we really need you to talk," Rafael's voice seemed to startle her out of her thoughts.

"I'm-I'm a...surrogate mother," she swallowed hard and looked at the two who were surprised (yet again). "We made a contract - the couple and me - and one of the rules was I needed to be home by nine."

"The attack happened at ten," Olivia recalled, slowly beginning to understand where Montserrat was getting at. "You broke one of the rules of the contract."

"It's for the baby's protection," Montserrat shrugged in her seat. "The couple are two of my friends and they just want to make sure I'm safe and...me being on the street at that time was _unsafe._ "

"You being at that street helped that woman stay alive," Olivia thought that would ease Montserrat's guilt.

"How is she?" Montserrat hadn't been able to sleep last night thinking about the poor victim she'd left to the paramedics.

"She made it. She'll heal."

"Physically, but emotionally?"

Olivia made a sway of her head. That was always a tough question. "Listen, Montserrat, we need you to give your statement for this case. You're the only witness in the scene. Do you think you can do that?"

Montserrat nodded her head. "Of course. I'm a Detective, I know how things go."

" _Really_?" it was clear Rafael was referencing her fleeing the crime scene. 

Montserrat accepted the jab with all her faults. She earned it after her unprofessional act. "I'm not going anywhere now. I _am_ sorry."

"The important thing is you came back," Olivia got up from her chair. "Why don't we go to my office back at SVU and you can tell us what happened? Is that okay?"

Montserrat nodded her head. "Yes, um, yes…"

"You're going to be fine," Olivia promised her. She could see Montserrat's bandaged hand from the attack but other than that the woman herself seemed to be just fine.

"And please don't flee anymore. It would make our job just a tiny bit easier," Rafael's sarcastic request made Olivia silently scold him but Montserrat chuckled.

"These days I don't do a lot of running. Last night was just adrenaline and inattentive cops. I try to run now, you'd catch me in three steps."

"Two."

Montserrat opened her mouth but ended up laughing again. "I'm not  _that_ slow, though."

Olivia still shook her head at the ADA but thanked God Montserrat had a sense of humor.

~0~

Montserrat thought it was her walk of shame when Olivia brought her into SVU's bullpen. Employees looked up from their work and others stopped their conversations just for a moment to get a look at her. Olivia led her down the room but, to Montserrat's misfortune, she stopped by a couple desks.

"Hey, you found her," Fin was still laughing inside from the idea of what Casey Novak had to have faced for this woman to be here now.

All Montserrat could offer was a smile. The group of detectives were first and foremost taken aback by Montserrat's pregnancy. It was a detail no one disclosed about after all.

"This is Detective Montserrat Novak," Olivia introduced the woman despite it being unnecessary. They all knew who she was. "These are Detectives Tutuola, Munch, Rollins, Amaro and Carisi."

"I heard you were looking for me. I'm sorry for the trouble I caused," Montserrat sighed. She felt like a broken record apologizing to everyone but they did deserve one.

"We're just glad you're here," Amanda honestly said. "If you need anything…"

"A chair, actually," Montserrat sheepishly looked at Olivia. She had a hand on her back and was gently rubbing circles to sooth the back pain.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Olivia, in an embarrassed state, led Montserrat towards the interview room where she figured Montserrat would be more comfortable on the couch. Montserrat bid goodbye to the detectives as she followed Olivia. "I'm sorry about that," Olivia honestly apologized.

"Don't worry about it," Montserrat took a seat - fell towards the end - on the couch. "I'm a nuisance for everyone in this state."

Olivia smiled. "Not here. Can I get you anything before we start?"

"No thank you, I'm fine."

"Okay," Olivia gathered a legal pad and a pen to jot down whatever Montserrat was going to say. She just hoped it would be useful to nail the perp completely.

"Before I start, I want you to know that the reason I retracted my transfer application was because of me," Montserrat surprised Olivia with the sudden topic. "I really wanted to be here but, um...this happened…" she gestured to her pregnant stomach, making Olivia momentarily question the manner in which Montserrat had said it. It almost sounded as if Montserrat was regretful or...resentful.

"That's fine, it really is, but if anything you would have just been on desk duty," Olivia slowly said, still studying Montserrat's demeanor of the moment.

"Mhm," Montserrat stared at her hands over her stomach. There was something not right about this but Olivia decided to focus on the current case before she dug into anything else.

"So, um, is it alright if we start?"

"Yes, of course. Um, let's see," Montserrat took in a breath while she gathered memory of the previous night. "I was coming home from, um...somewhere, and it was pretty late - well, it ten o' clock. Maybe it's not that late in reality but my contract said I have to be home before dark so…" Montserrat shook her head, "Sorry. Um, I was walking down the street when I heard noises. It was a woman - she was screaming. There was a man pushing her against a wall. It was clear he was trying to attack her. He smacked her head, there was something shiny pointed at her face. She cried for him to stop but he was so aggressive…"

"Do you remember what the woman was wearing?" Olivia asked after finishing up a note. "We need to make sure we're talking about the same victim."

"I know," Montserrat nodded, not needing to remind Olivia the process wasn't new for her. "It was dark so I couldn't see a lot but she was wearing a shiny dress. It sparkled a lot. The man, he was wearing a jacket um...a beanie. He looked young, to be honest. He was lanky too."

"You got a good look at him," Olivia briefly looked at Montserrat's bandaged hand.

"Yeah, when he attacked me," Montserrat confirmed. "I wasn't carrying my gun so I was at a disadvantage apart from the pregnancy. But I couldn't walk away. The woman was screaming for him to get off her, to stop it, but the bastard didn't listen. I…" she suddenly chuckled a bitter chuckle, "It was ridiculous but...I threw rocks at him that I found over a car's hood. It was all I could do."

"It's not ridiculous," Olivia reassured her. "You probably saved her with that."

"Yeah because he turned on me with a knife afterwards," Montserrat sighed. "I got scared when he started coming for me. He said just because I had a big stomach it didn't mean he couldn't do the same to me. If there was ever a time I wish I was on the job, it was then. He came at me and I tried fighting him off - which is how I got this-" she raised her injured hand, "-and then I managed to punch him. He dropped the knife and...I guess he got scared when he heard sirens so...he ran."

"One of the neighbors made the call to police," Olivia informed her. "We haven't been able to get any pictures from him since our victim hasn't woken up yet. Do you think you would you recognize him if you saw him again?"

"Oh yeah. I could talk to a sketch artist if you want."

"That would be really helpful," Olivia smiled softly at her. "Is there anything else you remember? Anything you want to add to your statement?"

Montserrat thought about the horrendous night for another minute. "Actually, yes. I believe the man called the victim by a name."

"Her name?"

"It sounded more like a nickname. He said ' _c'mon, Hales, you know you like me_ ' while he attacked her," Montserrat was sure of it and it showed. "He had to be someone that girl knew and probably rejected at some point."

Olivia agreed. They at least now had another alternative to search for their suspect. "Thank you Montserrat. Now, I have to ask, are you willing to testify if this goes to trial? Which it most likely will."

"Yes, of course I would," Montserrat nodded. "You just give me a time and date."

Olivia lightly smiled at the woman. "Thank you."

Montserrat attempted to get up on her own but the couch seemed to suck her back in. Olivia tried her hardest not to laugh, even quietly, but Montserrat side glanced her. "It's funny, I know. Everyone laughs. Look at Montse, she can't even stand up or sit down anymore."

Olivia put down her note and pen to help her get up. "Would that be Casey by any chance?"

"Mm, I don't think I should speak ill about an ADA who happens to be my cousin."

Olivia laughed. "Alright."

"Again, I'm really sorry for not staying last night. From now on, anything you need for this case I'll be here."

"And we thank you for it," Olivia said as she walked Montserrat out of the room. "I know our victim will too."

"Where can I leave my contact information? I moved so whatever you had on file isn't up to date anymore."

"Uh, you can leave that with one of my Detectives," Olivia said as her phone buzzed in her pocket. She picked it out of her pocket and saw the text left for her. "Actually, yes, leave that with one of them while I head to the hospital." She looked up to see everyone staring at her. "Hayley Connors woke up. Nick, care to join?" Nick gave a nod and got up from his chair with his jacket in hand. "We'll be in touch," Olivia told Montserrat before heading out with Nick.

"You can leave your information here," Amanda motioned Montserrat to her desk. She had a sticky note and pen waiting for Montserrat.

"Thanks," Montserrat walked over and picked up the sticky pad.

"Now when we do get the perp we'll need you to do the formal ID…" Amanda explained but Munch cut in.

"I think she knows the procedure," Munch reminded her, giving Montserrat a small smile. "Isn't that right, Detective?"

"Yes," Montserrat smiled back and handed Amanda the sticky pad and pen. "Olivia also said I could talk you about a sketch artist."

"You think you got a good view of the perp?" Finn asked, exchanging glanced with Sonny. It would be a real step up from what they had so far.

"Yes," Montserrat recognized that look of relief all too well. It was so frustrating to have next to nothing on cases. "And like I told your Sergeant, I'll do anything I can to help."

"You sure you're Casey's cousin?" Munch's question made her chuckle. "Not that Casey never helped, but..."

"My cousin has a fantastically hard attitude," Montserrat finished for him. "I tell her that and she still gets pissed off. "Maybe she gets that from her mom. We're related on the paternal side. Our fathers were brothers."

"Were?" Sonny looked at the others in case they knew about it.

"Casey's father died in the military," Montserrat figured Casey would have at least mentioned that but then again she didn't really know  _ADA_ Casey - she knew her cousin Casey. "She never mentioned me?"

"Uuh..." she heard Fin go before shrugging. "Lots of work around here, little time to talk."

"Right," she playfully rolled her eyes. "Anyways, can we do that sketch of the perp please? I have to go, so..."

"I can take you," Sonny stood from his desk, all too cheerful to do the task. "You're going to help us a lot with this."

"That's what I'm aiming for," Montserrat chuckled and followed him.

~0~

When Montserrat returned to her apartment, which was inhabited by the couple awaiting the child she carried, she was forced to tell them the truth about things. They were good people, they were her friends, and ultimately they would find out on their own.

Leah Saunders moved around the kitchen table serving lasagna to her husband, Michael, and Montserrat. "I just don't think getting yourself into that situation is the best thing right now," Leah was voicing her opinion in the kindest, civilized manner she could muster. "You're about to pop - literally - and you already got blood pressure to worry about. Is testifying and all that really necessary right now?"

"Considering this woman was raped and beaten, yes I think it  _is_  necessary," Montserrat picked up her fork to start eating. She was about to dig in when a scent caught her nose. "Is that brownies I smell?"

Leah playfully rolled her eyes. Michael chuckled in his seat. For the entire pregnancy, Montserrat experienced a series of cravings but the one that stuck throughout it all were the brownies. Leah took to making brownies daily just for her.

"Eat first," Leah pointed Montserrat to her plate. "Brownies come afterwards."

"You spoil me," Montserrat dug her fork into the lasagna.

"It's the least we can do after what you went through," Leah blurted as she took her seat. Montserrat froze just as she was about to take her first bite of lasagna. Leah's eyes widened when she realized her words and immediately set to amend for them. "Montse, I'm so sorry I didn't mean to bring that up. I'm-"

Montserrat warmly smiled at her friend. "It's okay. Don't worry about it."

"Don't say that. It  _is_  something to worry about," Leah felt terribly guilty for her careless slip.

Michael reached for his wife's hand, giving it a gentle squeeze, then glanced at Montserrat. "Montse, you know that you seeing a therapist isn't grounds for breaking the contract, right? If you need a ride, Leah or I can take you."

"I should have said something, I'm sorry," Montserrat licked her lips nervously. "I just wanted to keep it away from people...I don't know. I'm sorry."

"It's difficult, I know. But please, next time just tell us."

Montserrat nodded. "I will. Thank you."

"And as for this whole case thing, we know you're not stopping-"

"-I am not."

"And we get that. It is part of your job, but take it easy, alright? We'll be there for you, anytime you need us."

Montserrat sighed with relief. "That means a lot, believe me." Her friends both smiled at her, their promise to stay with her was the leverage she needed at the moment to continue with this until she could get back on her feet on her own... literally.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the record, I have no idea where this story is going but expect some bantering, some fluff, of course the angst (because it's necessary) ;)


	3. Didn't You Know?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Montserrat proves she is a skilled (albeit snappy) detective committed to testifying.

The victim, Hayley Connors, lived a rowdy nightlife. As it turned out, there were various accounts of misconducts that made her story a bit unbelievable. She'd been beaten and raped, there was no doubt about that, but the defense would have a field day with all her prior misconducts. Still, she'd been able to give more details on her attacker which corroborated with what Montserrat had told SVU as well. Between the two statements and a couple pieces of evidence, the squad was able to track down the suspect. With that came the ID sessions.

Montserrat was tapping her boot against the floor when Olivia walked into the interview room. "Hayley finished. You can ID next," Olivia soon noticed the jittery action of the ginger and wondered if there was something wrong. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, sorry, this kid thinks my bladder is a squeeze toy," Montserrat awkwardly smiled as she pushed herself up from the chair. "I just have to use the restroom."

Olivia smiled and told her it was fine. Montserrat felt embarrassed enough. Twice she'd been to the restroom since her arrival. Once she returned, Olivia took her straight to the line up where she met Rafael and also had the (un)fortunate pleasure of meeting the suspect's lawyer, a Mr. Buchanan.

"Detective Novak," Rafael nodded her to step towards the window. "You know what to do, right?"

A sarcastic smile spread across Montserrat's face. "I think I might." She gave the nod to Olivia that she was ready and so Olivia knocked twice on the glass to get the lineup. Montserrat's eyes trailed from one man to the next until she spotted the familiar lanky monster. "It's number four. He was attacking Hayley Connors and then tried to do the same to me." Olivia knocked against the glass to get the line up taken out.

"Which is not part of the charges," Buchanan was quick to say.

Montserrat side glanced at him with a straight expression. "Doesn't matter. He's going down anyways. We'll see your client in court," the twitch of her smirk elicited quite a glare from Buchanan but he kept to himself and took off first.

"I have to warn you, Detective, that antagonizing Buchanan is only going to make his cross examination even more difficult for you," Rafael warned once it was just the three of them.

"Please, either way he'll want to destroy me."

"Which is why you need to know exactly what you're going to be saying."

"And Hayley," Montserrat suddenly chuckled. "I know that look."

Rafael exchanged a confused glance with Olivia, but neither knew what she was talking about. "What look?" he then asked.

"You have the same look that the ADA I worked with would give me when he thought I didn't know what I was doing."

"Montserrat, we both know that you are equipped for court," Olivia started off kindly, but Montserrat knew exactly where she leading up to. "But you worked Homicide. The cases are very different at SVU. In homicide, everything is concrete but here...you have to prove that what the victim claims is true."

"So one wrong word and you could throw Hayley's case out the window," Rafael held nothing back unlike Olivia. He needed Montserrat to understand the implications before she would take the stand. "Maybe I _am_ giving you that look your old ADA did but in my case, don't I have a right?"

Montserrat upheld his gaze for a couple seconds before giving in. She wasn't there to argue. This division was new to her, and despite filing her transfer papers months ago she still needed actual experience to know what SVU really dealt with. "Sorry," her answer was met with suspicion from Rafael, but she just smiled. "You're right. I'll listen."

He opened his mouth to retort but closed it instead. His tilted head made her smile even more. "If all the detectives here were like you, I'd have less headaches."

She laughed at the comment with closed eyes. Her laughter couldn't last for long lest she wanted to make another trip to the restroom.

"My office tomorrow afternoon. We'll go over what you'll say," Rafael said and waited for her to nod before taking off.

Montserrat waited until he was gone before speaking to Olivia. "Well, I like him better than my old ADA. He at least takes me serious."

Olivia started walking her towards the bullpen. "Uh, Rafael's...something. You're the first person I've heard him compliment since he transferred." Then, with a straight face, she looked at Montserrat and added, "He's been here for a year."

After that, Montserrat laughed until she needed to visit the restroom again.

~0~

One week later had both Montserrat and Hayley practicing in the courthouse. Out of the two, Hayley seemed to be the most nervous. Since she didn't want to even be there, Olivia accompanied - specifically walking Hayley through things - them just in case Hayley backed out at the last minute. Things seemed to be going okay but when Rafael started hitting Hayley with the questions he was sure Buchanan would, the girl frantically got off the stand, shouting the entire thing was too much.

"It's only what's coming on the actual day," Rafael was close to losing his already thin patience. "I'm not asking you anything Buchanan won't."

Hayley glared at him, probably thinking at the moment _he_ was a much bigger enemy than Buchanan. "It feels like _I'm_ the one to blame!"

"You're not," Olivia answered before Rafael could. She warned him not to say anything else for the moment. "But it's usually a defense tactic to make it look like you are."

"Of course," Hayley crossed her arms. "I go out and have fun so it must mean that I wanted to be attacked."

"No one here thinks that. But you have to be calm," Olivia's words only seemed to agitate Hayley more.

The young woman dug her hands into her messy blonde hair. "That's easy for you to say! You're not the one who's going to have to be up here!"

Montserrat silently checked her phone while Olivia tried to calm Hayley down. She wouldn't say it out loud, but she thought Olivia's attempt was turning out to be counterproductive. And by the look on Rafael's face, she was sure he would agree.

"Maybe I can go next?" Montserrat finally spoke up. However, her own attempt was met with the same hostility Olivia had to deal with.

"Yes, let the pregnant lady have her go!" Hayley stormed towards the doors. "If she's not too busy gagging over my perfume!"

"I wasn't gagging at your perfume," Montserrat made a face. "It was a combination of everyone's." Yes, her nose was that sensitive and she'd let all three of them know.

Olivia was going to go after her but she stopped by Rafael, "She'll just need some time-"

"You think?" Rafael's snap didn't seem to phase Olivia. Montserrat praised the Sergeant for her dutiful patience with all these people.

"She'll be back," Olivia reassured him. She glanced at Montserrat, and seeing the look on Olivia's face made Montserrat speak up.

"I am fine, trust me." Olivia smiled lightly and went after Hayley before she actually left the court building altogether. Montserrat checked her phone again before rising from her seat. "I don't mean to be a downer on your work-"

"-let me guess, is that something you said to your old ADA?" Rafael asked, though he was pretty sure he already knew the answer.

Montserrat didn't bother hiding her smirk. "Aah, but here's the difference: I actually mean it this time." Rafael actually chuckled. "It's just this case seems difficult to make when the victim herself doesn't seem to want to be here."

"Liv said you were in the process of transferring into SVU?"

"Yeah…"

"Then you would know that in this division, it's pretty much how it goes most the time."

"Yes, I do, and that's why I don't think coddling her is the way to get her to talk," at her words, Rafael stopped in his paper search. "I know Olivia and the Squad and you are more experienced in this division but...I don't think Hayley is going to respond to Olivia's kind manners."

"And how would you handle the situation?"

"Honestly, I would lay the facts. You want to see the person who raped you behind the bars? Then you need to work with us."

Rafael stared at the woman, assuming she would retract or at least apologize for being bold in the tactic. But, she didn't. "That's a bit harsh, don't you think?"

"Some people don't respond to warmth and closeness," Montserrat plainly said. "It's cold but it's the truth."

"Didn't take you for a psychologist," Rafael made a nod for her to head to the stand.

"Ooh, I am many things, Mr. Barba," she sucked in a breath and crossed the room with a hand on her stomach. "But right now the only thing I wish I could be is a woman who could get up from a chair on her own," she said as she went through a small struggle of sitting down on the stand. "Fair notice, you'll be helping me out of this afterwards."

"Of course," Rafael then motioned they were going to begin. He needed to have at least one of the major witness get through the practice or he really would lose it.

Thankfully, Montserrat once again proved she indeed wasn't new to the process. Her words were a little misplaced due to the fact she worked in homicide instead but with the proper guidance, she could be as good as any other SVU detective. He just noticed there was an impulse for her to snap back whenever a particular intrusive question was asked. 

He got a good taste of it when he made the wrong move and made a comment Buchanan most likely would about her.

"Bold of you to assume you know more about me than _me_ ," the ginger was now narrowing her eyes on him.

Rafael stopped and leveled her with an irritated expression. "You know better than to fall for cheap tricks like this."

"What kind of lawyer would ask that?" she frowned deeper. "It's ridiculous-"

"-you'd be surprised with what Buchanan can come up with."

"Then he's not a very good lawyer and probably should just go to he-"

"- _Detective_ ," Rafael's sharp tone made her stop her sentence.

"First of all, I'm not on the job so I'm not a detective at the moment. Second of all-"

"-no, no, there shouldn't  _be_  a ' _second of all_ '. We are getting off track-"

"-I'm only responding to what you're asking!"

"But I'm not asking you anything right now!"

Montserrat scowled at him. "Then why are you shouting!?"

"I'm not!"

Montserrat watched him pinch the bridge of his nose. "You know, you and my old ADA would get along just fine."

Rafael dropped his hand and shot her an incredulous look. Was she really continuing on? Apparently so. "Well, we'd certainly have something to talk about."

"You know _what_ -" Montserrat suddenly stopped when she felt a particular jab on near her lower abdomen. The sudden yelp of pain was enough to make her squirm and jerk forwards on her chair.

"Miss Novak?" Rafael forgot about his irritation with her. "Are you-" Montserrat scrunched her face in clear pain, making him conclude the answer and rush to help her.

The first jab of pain was followed by a second and third within the second. Montserrat did a series of breathing exercises Leah had talked about weeks ago. They suddenly didn't seem so stupid anymore.

"Miss Novak-" Rafael's voice got through to her between one of her breaths, "-I'm going to call for a b-"

She was sure what he was going to say so she waved the hand that wasn't gripping the wooden bar in front of her. "-no! Don't bother!"

"What do you mean!?" Rafael practically shouted at her. "You're about to-"

"-nooo, I'm not!" her breathing was spacing out. "It's just false labor. I've had it twice already, just give me…" she sucked in another breath, "Give me a moment, please. Just... _silence_! Just stop talking!"

Rafael followed the instruction but he was set on calling for the hospital if she didn't look better in the next minute. Montserrat took a couple more breaths in and out, just like Leah made her practice for a full hour, and monitored her pains. Like the stupid book said, the 'false contractions' gradually decreased. Montserrat finally opened her eyes and met a wide-eyed ADA beside her.

A light smile graced her lips. "Get some color back into that face, Mr. Barba. I told you I was going to be fine."

His natural response was to frown. It seemed like he would snap but out of decency he forced his mouth to remain shut. That just made Montserrat laugh.

"Have you had any kids?" she asked.

"No."

"Then this is your practice," her small laughter didn't help his restraint. "You failed."

"You're actually serious - okay," Rafael felt it was better to end the session there and then because he was  _not_ going to have an argument with a woman about to give birth. That was just  _wrong_. "Just please work on the snark."

"I will if you will," Montserrat chuckled, much to his dismay. "Before you storm out, could you help me?"

Rafael honestly thought she'd been kidding about needing help getting up from a chair. After the spectacle she just gave, he'd need some aspirin for sure. She made Hayley Connors feel like a day at the park.  _She's pregnant. Just let her do what she wants._  She was about to push a human being out of her body so perhaps leeway was something she deserved. God knows his mother would have his ear if she ever found out he refused to help a pregnant woman. He didn't even want to think what his grandmother would have to say.

"Please consider taking it light until the court day," he spoke much calmer when he returned to the stand to help her. "The last thing we need is for you to go into labor before or during the-"

"-let's not jinx it," Montserrat shuddered and preferred to be optimistic she would have luck with her due date.

"Ready?" Rafael took her nod and helped her up from her chair. "Be careful with the step-"

"What step?" Montserrat saw a glimpse of the step before her right foot inadvertently slipped.

Rafael instinctively blocked her fall and caught her by the waist. Montserrat's brief moment of fear was evident across her face. It was very close to Rafael's face, enough so that they could both notice traits from each other that weren't so obvious at first glance. He, for example, had flecks of brown in the midst of his green eyes. She, on the other hand, very light freckles sprinkled below her eyes.

"There we go," Rafael soon helped her get back on her feet, purposely avoiding her gaze. "You're alright."

"Thank you," Montserrat straightened up and made way for her things. She was right on time because her phone went off just a second before she reached it. "It's Casey. She's probably outside. We were done right?"

"Yes, yes, completely," Rafael only briefly looked up from his own things. "Thank you."

"Uh, can you let Olivia and Hayley know I said goodbye?"

"Of course."

Montserrat didn't think he'd be willing to look at her again that day. She supposed the brief moment was enough to put any ADA on alert. The last thing he needed - and her for that matter - were rumors.

She instead met Casey outside the court building. Her cousin was waiting with a brown paper bag in one hand which she rose in the air as soon as she saw Montserrat. "Thought you could use some brownies," Casey smiled.

Montserrat raised an eyebrow of suspicion. "You know, every time you do something nice it's because you did something bad to me."

Casey sarcastically snorted. "That's when we were kids." Montserrat still didn't stop giving her a sharp look. "Alright," Casey lowered the bag and shrugged, "I know how tough Rafael can be so I figured you might want some dessert after your practice."

"That sounds more like Casey," Montserrat happily took the bag from her and opened it up to be greeted by the sweet chocolaty scent of brownies.

"So-" Casey turned them down the street, "-did things go well?"

"Um, I've no idea," Montserrat admitted she wasn't sure what the odds were for this case to go well. "The victim is...really frantic. She's emotionally unstable. She screamed at Olivia and stormed out."

Casey hummed. "Yeah, that happens sometimes. Patience is the true key in SVU."

Montserrat took a bite of a brownie which turned out to be very chewy. "Mm, this is so good!" Casey smiled and shook her head. "My day needed to get better and this was the perfect way."

"So it didn't go well for you either?"

Montserrat tilted her head and thought about her own practice. "No, I think I did. I know how to do this stuff, Casey. But I did get into a mini-argument with Rafael somewhere along the way."

Casey scoffed. "With you there are _no_ 'mini-arguments'."

Montserrat feigned an offended gasp. "How rude."

"But honest," Casey's smirk remained irritating as when they were kids.

Montserrat rolled her eyes and continued to eat her dessert. Her playfulness faded by the time she spoke up again. "Casey, do you think you could come with me when it's time to testify? I know you're busy and I know I've said that I'm not new to the process but…"

Casey put a hand on her cousin's arm. "I will be there."

Montserrat smiled in relief. "Thanks. I would just feel better if family was there."

"Of course," Casey smiled back. She put an arm around Montserrat's shoulders and continued to walk. "You hungry? Because I am."

"I'm always hungry these days!" Montserrat laughed.

~0~

The day of court Montserrat made her best to be on time and look as ready as possible. It was just to her unfortunate luck that she felt sick after eating breakfast. Leah made her a light, fruity breakfast just like the doctor suggested. Montserrat ate as much as she could then retreated to her bedroom to change.

She went with a cream-colored, short-sleeved dress appropriate for court and for her general uncomfortableness. Her hair was left down but with two pieces clipped back. It was a struggle fitting on her shoes when she couldn't exactly see her feet. Leah would laugh each time she was called in for help.

When Casey arrived to take Montserrat, she immediately noticed there was something off about her cousin. "Are you sure you're alright?" Casey asked for the third time now that they were arriving at court.

Montserrat seemed a little pale and, sure, she did feel just a little extra uncomfortable but what was unusual about that? She reassured Casey everything was just fine. "And please don't ask me again," she warned just as the elevator doors slid open for them to leave.

On their way out, they immediately spotted Hayley Connors coming out the courtroom with Olivia. As predicted, Hayley seemed logically upset.

"Did something happen?" Montserrat asked but Olivia shook her head, pushing Hayley forwards.

"Defence just made her talk about her nightlife, but it's fine. You're next and-"

"-basically you're damage control," Casey kept Montserrat moving in the opposite way. It was best for her and Hayley not to speak until Montserrat had her turn on the stand.

"Oh, no pressure," Montserrat put a hand on her stomach. The bailiff re-opened the door and exchanged a mutual nodding with Casey. "Oh yay," Montserrat glumly said as she was brought towards the doors.

"Now are you sure you're fine?" Casey stopped her just for a second, even though everyone was already waiting for Montserrat. "You seem extra-"

"-I'm uncomfortable," Montserrat gestured to her state. "That's it. I promise."

Casey had no choice but to let her go. She slipped into the courtroom after Montserrat and took the nearest seat she could.

Montserrat did her best not to put on a show when she sat down. She was thankful that Rafael was a straight forwards prosecutor who didn't do the usual fake "how are you" or the coddling by announcing he'd be asking her questions right before asking the questions. She found that incredibly annoying.

"How did you meet Miss Connors?"

"I didn't meet her persay, I heard her screams."

"Why was she screaming?"

"Because there was a man attacking her."

"And do you see that man here today?"

Montserrat dutifully pointed her index finger at the man sitting next to Buchanan. "He's right there."

"Let the record show that the witness has identified the defendant, Noel Oakes," Rafael paused when he noticed Montserrat scrunch her nose. He learned to recognize that as a warning something caught her nose in the wrong way. The last thing he needed - and for her - was her throwing up because someone chose the wrong cologne. "Miss Novak?" his call brought her gaze back up. "Can you describe what you saw on the night of March 29?"

"I saw the defendant push Miss Connors against a wall. He was angry about something-"

"Objection!" Buchanan stopped her so suddenly she blinked. "Lay witness opinion. The witness can't possibly know in what state of mind the defendant was in."

Montserrat inwardly groaned. She didn't need to be a rocket scientist to know anger when she saw it. Still, she took in a light breath and rearranged her words. "He smacked her head and then threatened her with a knife."

"And how were you sure it was a knife?"

"He pointed it at Miss Connors' face when he pushed her up against the wall. Its silver reflected under the street lights. Plus, when the defendant dropped it, it landed beside me." In that moment, Montserrat wished charges for Oakes' attack on her had been added so she could also spew out that information and get a definite guilty verdict. If she hadn't ran away from the scene, she could've. It was her punishment.

Dread around became palpable when Rafael finished questioning her. It didn't help when she unexpectedly in-took a shaky breath. Her body jerked upwards but not enough to get up from the chair.

"Miss Novak, are you alright?" the judge was the one to inquire.

Montserrat gave a quick nod of her head. "Y-yes." Still, getting comfortable on her chair seemed to be impossible now. She had the collective stares of Casey, Rafael and Buchanan. The first two were the weary ones...

It didn't help when Buchanan started the cross-examination by asking "how are you?" He was  _that_ type of lawyer.

"I'm fi-ine," she said but her 'fine' came out just a bit high pitched. "Uncomfortable, but fine."

"Yes, I can imagine," Buchanan cleared his throat and, thankfully, got on with his questions. "Can you explain where you were coming from on the night of the alleged attack?"

"Objection - relevance?" Rafael's confusion was shared by Montserrat. The hell did Buchanan want to know about her life for?

"It goes to the credibility and the state of mind of the witness during the alleged attack," Buchanan explained with an air of confidence Montserrat was hating. And since the judge allowed him to continue, it got worse.

Montserrat licked her lips and looked to the side. "I was coming from an appointment."

"What kind of appointment?"

Montserrat's dark eyes met the man's, clearly not impressed by the direction of his question. She knew what he was going to try and do after she answered. "A therapy session."

"Right, so after your session you were probably dealing with feelings that could cloud your memory-"

" _-no_ ," she calmly cut him off. She'd been able to see Rafael's mouth opening to probably object to the nonsense Buchanan was spewing. "I was in a normal state and my therapist would be able to confirm that if you'd like."

"Forgive me, Miss Novak, but a woman in your state is undergoing so many changes. Isn't it possible that, due to one of these changes, you may have just imagined or mistaken what was happening?"

Montserrat raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you implying my pregnancy is inhibiting my ability to  _see_  and  _hear_? Because I know what a beating and a rape look like."

From the benches, Casey knew her cousin was about to snap. And since her emotions were already unstable, it probably wouldn't end well if unleashed.

"Not at all," Buchanan answered in an annoyingly calm manner. "But you were clearly not in a right state after you fled the scene-"

"Objection!" Rafael thought the man was going far even for his usual standards. Montserrat was squirming in her seat every minute or so and he assumed it was because Buchanan was pushing her too much.

"Withdrawn," Buchanan made a wave of his hand. He took another stab at his game, this time going into Montserrat's flee of the scene. He just hadn't been counting on Montserrat snapping that his client had scared the living crap out of her - and her baby - when he brandished a knife at her.

In the end, though pale faced and rigid, Montserrat did more good than bad. Her "damage control" endeavor was dealt with just fine. It was just the damn chair that continued to be her enemy in that room. The court took the lunch recess after her testimony, and so as people were coming out Casey personally came to help her cousin out the room.

"Montse, you did good," she assured Montserrat as they exited the room.

"Did I?" the ginger doubted herself for a moment.

"No, you did," Rafael came up behind them. "Your snaps - which I told you to control - were said with the right words."

"And by that you mean…?"

"You're kidding? You're nine months pregnant - that alone gives you sympathy from a jury. Buchanan dug his own hole when he implied you weren't competent because of that."

Montserrat didn't even want to remember that, but there was something she wanted to address before leaving. "Casey, get ahead start please."

"You really earned some brownies this time," Casey smiled and started heading towards the elevators, promising to wait for her there.

"Yeah, I don't think I'll be eating anything for a while," Montserrat's mumble went unheard by anyone. "About the whole therapist thing - I'm sorry I didn't mention that. I didn't think Buchanan would bring it up-"

Rafael scoffed. "It's classic. And you don't have to explain anything. That was completely irrelevant to the case-"

"-but I should have informed you so that at least he didn't get to surprise us with it," Montserrat shifted on her feet, scrunching her face. She reached for Rafael's wrist, startling him with the action. "Just tell me I helped the case."

"Yes, you did - are you alright?" he was tired of wondering why there was no color in her face. At first, he thought it was because she'd smelled something making her nauseous again, but now maybe he was thinking it was something else.

"I-I am," she seemed to struggle even swallowing. "I, uh, I just have it on good authority that I've been in labor for the past fifteen minutes."

The calm way she said it didn't stop the stunned expression from forming across his face. It was his turn to lose color in his face. "Excuse me?"

"Oh, you didn't think my water breaking was going to be the first sign of labor, did you?" Montserrat took in a decent-sized breath. "Only about 8% of women actually go through that."

"I-I-I don't - you just  _sat_  there and testified!?"

Montserrat smiled - or smirked - with her own air of smugness this time. "I told you I was not having a baby before I testified. I'm a badass in general, didn't you know?" she had to stop for another deep breath. "Ooh yeah, I think the contractions are starting now. Good luck with your case." She pulled her hand from his wrist - which had tightened its grip without her realizing - and turned to meet Casey by the elevator.

Rafael had done his job for plenty, and plenty, of years but this was just... _shocking_. It definitely explained why she kept squirming in her seat towards the end. Now it definitely made his blood boil that he hadn't been able to cut into Buchanan's jabs. Still, he was first and foremost stunned by Montserrat, and that alone was hard to do seeing what kind of job he held. He'd let her know that the next time he saw her.

Unfortunately, he didn't know it would take him months to see her again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, Montse really did that. Is it biased for me to like my own OC?? Oh well >.<


	4. Come Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Montserrat returns but you learn a secret of hers that will follow her for the rest of her life.

_2 Months Later._

There was an unusual chatter in Forlini's that day, even when everything just seemed...wrong. While the restaurant was lively for whatever reason, the SVU squad members were mourning their not guilty verdict and the death of the boy they'd been in trial for. It just seemed like racism and fear would continue to win no matter how much they tried. One by one, the squad trickled in members. Going home to continue moping was just the next step after the day.

Eventually, the lone ADA of the squad remained. He was determined to erase the trial from his memory even if it took all the scotch stock in the restaurant. With all the alcohol in his system, the noise around him felt like it was amplified by tenfold. Why were people so annoying sometimes? They couldn't go celebrate home or just keep silent like normal people? No. It always had to be like this. Maybe going to the blissful silence of his home wasn't such a bad idea after all.

Rafael had only decided this seconds before a crowd at the end of the restaurant burst into cheers for whatever the hell they were happy about. He was in the middle of picking up his things when he heard some members of the oh-so-joyous crowd beginning to leave.  _Thank God_.

"...stay some more!"

"No, sorry! I'll see you at home, Kara!"

"Didn't know you had a curfew!"

The crowd of celebrators burst into a whole new laughter. Rafael would've gone straight out before they even opened their mouths again but one particular voice was too familiar to just let go.

"You're all jerks!" cried a familiar woman.

"Miss Novak?"

Montserrat stopped walking and turned towards the bar counter where Rafael was still sitting. A grin came across her face at the sight of the ADA. "Oh, hi! I didn't know you came here! Well, actually Casey comes here so I should've just figured that you would come here but…" she shook her head, forgetting the long ramble, "It's nice to see you again."

"Nice to see you as well," Rafael motioned the chair next to him, forgetting that he'd been about to leave (and she as well).

Montserrat sat down next to him, placing her black purse on the counter. When the bartender came by she waved a hand. "No thanks."

Rafael watched her for a minute as if to confirm whether or not this was the same woman he met two months ago. She remained the same, with her wavy fiery, ginger hair and bangs over her forehead. Her dark eyes seemed bigger now, or maybe that was just under the dim lights of the restaurant. Her figure was back.  _Because she's not pregnant anymore_ , Rafael almost rolled his eyes at himself for being so stupid. Clearly, Montserrat would look different now. She was dressed in a black and white, long sleeved, horizontal striped dress with a white, biker-like leather vest over it.

"You look well," Rafael found himself remarking. His glass became an automatic form of retreat in case she took it in the wrong way. Still, when he thought about his three worded sentence it still made him feel like he overstepped. "I meant that, you know, you didn't have your…"

Montserrat's chuckle cut him off. "I don't have my big stomach anymore? Yeah, that's what happens when you give  _birth_."

Rafael smiled. He liked her way of taking things in a different manner than most people would. It was refreshing. "I meant to follow up after the case but...we were surprised to find you relocated hospitals."

After he told the others how Montserrat practically withheld her labor pains until after she testified, they made it their mission to visit her in the hospital to thank her for it. It was a shock to them all when Casey notified them her cousin was in a hospital she didn't even know of.

"Sorry. Leah and Michael have these...traditions, they wanted me to follow. They believe in only family seeing the baby for the first couple days." Montserrat gave a light shrug. She hoped he wouldn't ask too many questions about that.

"But was everything okay? You didn't...have any complications because of what happened in court?"

"No. I…" Montserrat started smiling, her gaze lowering to the counter, "I had a perfectly healthy baby boy. They named him Andrew."

"Congratulations," Rafael felt odd saying it since Montserrat wasn't technically the mother of the boy. Still, she seemed pretty happy so he'd just go with it.

"Thank you," she nodded. She shifted on her stool to face him with a whole new expression on her face. Anticipation. "Did you win the case? Tell me you got that guy,  _please_."

Rafael put his glass down for a second and glanced at her, his growing smugness more or less an answer all on its own. "How do double digits in prison sound?"

"I _love_ your language," Montserrat gave him a coy smile.

Now it was Rafael's turn to laugh. "So I imagine you're back in the Homicide division, then?"

"Uum... not quite. I...I decided to stay clear of that from now on," Montserrat cleared her throat. "Queens no longer feels like home to me. I'm living with a friend right here in Manhattan again."

"Going to be working with us, then Detective?"

"It would be nice to hear that again…" Montserrat looked around as if someone would overhear a precious secret she had to tell. "Between you and me, I started talking with Olivia last month. Even though Detective Carisi already filled my spot, she said there's still room for another Detective. Apparently, the team recently said goodbye to Detective Munch?"

"Yes, we did," Rafael remembered Olivia's unnatural smiles last month when Carisi himself had asked who would be coming in to replace Munch. Olivia had been making the plans for long now.

"She's helped me get my papers back in, and this time here to stay. I'll be seeing you all next week," Montserrat said proudly.

"Great, another Novak to deal with," Rafael sarcastically rolled his eyes then took another drink of his glass. Montserrat gasped in the same sarcasm. "Relax, it'll be interesting working with a  _Detective_  Novak this time."

"I'm not that awful," Montserrat laughed. "In fact, I have-"

"Montse," a blonde woman stopped by the two, or bumped into Montserrat, "I thought you were leaving! You only came to talk to the first man-"

"Kara, I'm going to stop you before you say something you'll regret for the rest of your life," Montserrat said in one clean go. Kara was her best friend and probably the boldest which didn't bode well for Montserrat since the woman was also drunk at the moment. "Remember that job I told you about?"

"Mm, the cop one?" Kara swayed on her feet so Montserrat grabbed one of Kara's hands to keep her steady.

"Yes, that one," Montserrat figured that was as far as Kara would remember in her state. "He's one of the ADAs there, do you remember that?"

Kara scrunched face then very honestly shook her head. "I gotta be honest: right now, I don't even remember what I do for a living."

Montserrat wasn't the least bit surprised by that. Kara was one of the honest drunks where she would say anything on her mind no matter what. "Rafael, this is my best friend in her worst states, Kara Mackie. We were celebrating a friend's recent promotion and...Kara got into the mood."

Rafael figured even if he did introduce himself to Kara, she wouldn't remember the next morning. The tall blonde woman was swaying on her feet and she didn't even seem to notice it. Still, he offered Kara a polite smile and his name. Kara smiled very sweetly, but it looked like his words had gone over her head.

"I think I'm taking you home," Montserrat sighed and grabbed her bag off the counter. "She's the roommate I was talking about," she told Rafael and grabbed her purse off the counter. "Unfortunately, part of the deal is I have to take care of her sometimes."

"Ah, that's why I live alone," Rafael made a mock toast with his nearly empty glass.

"Yeah, well, give me some time and maybe I can too!"

"I suppose we'll be seeing each other next week?"

Montserrat nodded her head. "I think so. But don't tell anyone. I want to surprise them."

"They won't hear anything from me."

"Montse, is it me or does it feel like you've been talking for  _hours_?" Kara closed her eyes for a moment but Montserrat knew this was a warning Kara would be dropping asleep very soon.

"Oh boy," Montserrat turned Kara for the doors. "I'll see you around, then." She smiled once more at Rafael then hurried with Kara before Kara said something more. And it turned out Kara did have something more to say.

"Your friend is kinda hot. Can I go back there for like ten minutes?"

"Over my dead body," Montserrat practically pushed Kara out the door.

~0~

 _Days later_.

Montserrat pulled open a cafe shop door and was greeted with a sweet cinnamon scent. She loved the fact they sold some delicious, chewy brownies. That was never part of the pregnancy cravings - just enhanced - because she'd loved brownies for years and years before.

As Montserrat walked through the cafe she spotted the woman she'd come in looking for. "Sergeant Olivia Benson," she said once she was in hearing shot of the Sergeant.

Olivia looked up from her phone just as Montserrat pulled a seat out at the table. "Hi, glad you made it."

Montserrat nodded and tucked her hair behind her ears. "Of course I would make it. Thank you for agreeing to do this outside the station. You didn't have to do that."

"No reason why we couldn't," Olivia countered with. She motioned to a file sitting on the table in front of her. "I've finalized things and you really do look good for the job. Homicide had good recommendations for you."

"I bet they did," Montserrat bit her lip and smiled an unusual smile that Olivia couldn't let go of.

Montserrat seemed like a perfect candidate to be an SVU detective. She had the experience, she had the skills, the personality but sometimes Olivia noted there were moments where Montserrat would do or say odd things. It was as if Montserrat was talking about something only she knew about, something that still had an effect on her.

"And I see you decided to put down you're still seeing a shrink," Olivia meant to discuss that only briefly, but she felt she still had a duty to inform Montserrat her options. "You know it's not required, right?"

"I know, but it's not like it was a secret," Montserrat shrugged. "Plus I wouldn't want it to come up in some trial and take the ADA by surprise. I'd rather have things out in the open."

"Okay," Olivia gave a nod.

"Can I ask you something?"

Olivia smiled at the ginger's shyness. "Of course. You can make any questions you want."

"You're the Sergeant so...is there a Captain? A Lieutenant?"

"Uh, we used to have a Captain but he retired and we're still searching for someone."

"Okay," Montserrat nodded. Olivia gave her another look as if expecting more questions. "I don't really have any more questions."

"Really?" Olivia raised an eyebrow, a smile crossing her face. "I would think switching from Homicide to Special Victims might leave some questions. At the very least switching neighborhoods would."

Montserrat laughed softly. "I lived in Queens but since I moved in with Leah and Michael during the pregnancy I've learned enough about the city."

"So you've definitely moved here, then?"

"Yeah, right now I'm staying with a friend until I find a place of my own," Montserrat looked around the cafe. "This is actually one of the places I've learned to love. It's adorable."

Olivia laughed and had to agree the quaint cafe shop was highly relaxing. She didn't have a lot of time to do that anymore and she wouldn't tell Montserrat that if she did become an SVU detective there wouldn't be a lot of time to visit relaxing cafes. "So, can we expect you Monday morning?"

Montserrat didn't think twice in answering. "With coffee for everyone."

~0~

"So, it's settled and I'm going to be starting at SVU on Monday," Montserrat relayed her lunch meeting with her therapist. She was happier than the previous times she'd visited, especially after giving birth.

Dr. Weslin made that note without initially mentioning it. "And you're feeling competent for that?"

Montserrat understood where she was going. Her smile faltered for a bit but she still answered calmly. "I do, actually. Things seem...to be getting better now. I can actually say it and  _feel_  it. I mean, two months ago I was giving birth to…" she paused, biting her lower lip.

Dr. Weslin waited for her to continue but, just like the other times Montserrat hesitated. "Montse, part of this process is for you to be able to say it out loud."

"I know-"

"-and especially considering where you're going to be working at-"

"-I know!" Montserrat squeezed her eyes shut and balled a fist on the couch. "But it was already difficult saying it as a Homicide Detective but now as an SVU detective…"

"It's a challenge," Dr. Weslin knew. She knew by now that Montserrat said the same thing each time she was in for an appointment.

Montserrat opened her eyes but her fist remained curled and unmoving. "It will always be a challenge openly admitting that I was raped. I feel better now and I don't want that to go away."

"It doesn't have to," Dr. Weslin remained calm even as the woman teared up. She put her clipboard down and gazed at Montserrat. "You have done fine progress, Montserrat."

"I know that," Montserrat unintentionally snapped. "But sometimes when I get to thinking about this year, I…" she scrunched her face and raised her balled fist. "Sometimes I start to go  _back_ …"

"Normal action," Dr. Weslin nodded. "You've had quite the year, Montserrat. And the fact you never disclosed to your family…"

"I did what I needed to," Montserrat dropped her hand to her lap. "I just told Casey, and I went to the hospital, I got the rape kit done, I disclosed to my Lieutenant. My family didn't need to know."

"Now let me ask you something, Montserrat. Do you think working at SVU will in anyway dissolve your progress?"

Montserrat couldn't give any answer with certainty. She could say no and definitely know that she was lying. Or, she could say yes but without being completely sure. She truly felt like she had made an honest progress in healing and she really didn't want to lose it.

"I guess we'll have to wait and see."


	5. Ins and Outs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Montserrat begins her first case with SVU and comes into some doubt.

A Monday morning was just as busy as any other day in SVU. It was a miracle they still had Sundays off. Montserrat had come in at the time Olivia told her the day before. She emerged into the bullpen and saw some familiar faces along the way, but it didn't hit her until she was spotted by the detectives.

"Miss Novak?" Amanda Rollins was the first to notice the familiar ginger coming into the room. At her call, she had the other detectives follow her gaze towards Montserrat.

With all eyes on her, Montserrat meekly smiled at the group and waved her free hand at them. "Morning Detectives."

"Look at you, showing up unannounced," Fin leaned back on his chair, scrutinizing Montserrat for a clue of her sudden presence. "Last time we heard you were having a baby in Barba's courtroom."

"While that would have been awesome-" Montserrat sarcastically began, pointing at Fin as if she were truly sorry it wasn't the case, "-I decided to wait until the trial was over."

"Impressive," Fin gave a nod.

Montserrat continued on with the charade by pretending to accept the compliment. "Thank you."

"We tried to visit you," Sonny said, sounding a lot like Rafael in that he was apologetic for not following through. "But, uh, your cousin didn't want to tell us where you were at."

"Yeah, she said your couple had some weird traditions or something," Nick said, still seeming doubtful of it.

"Yeah, sorry about that. But thank you," Montserrat was touched by their efforts when they hadn't even known each other to be considered friends.

"Was the baby alright?" Amanda asked out of curiosity. No one knew what happened except that Montserrat had indeed given birth to a baby.

"Yes, a health boy who had me in agony for twelve hours," Montserrat pretended to shiver, making the detectives laugh.

"Yeah, that's why I'm not having kids," Amanda shook her head.

"Never say never," Montserrat truly meant that. No one ever knew what might happen to those perfect plans one made for life.

"Montse," Olivia emerged from the hallway, holding a paper in one of her hands. "Glad you're here."

"Sorry, I was on my way in and I got sidetracked," Montserrat nodded over to the detectives.

"They do a lot of distraction," Olivia's comment earned herself mock glares from her team. "You didn't bring coffee for everyone though…" her serious comment made Montserrat stop for a second until she remembered she'd playfully joked during their lunch meeting that she would bring coffee for everyone come Monday.

"Oh, right," Montserrat laughed in embarrassment. "Tomorrow."

"So, have you told them?"

"Uh, no I have not," Montserrat shook her head.

Olivia motioned if she wanted to go ahead and do it but Montserrat allowed Olivia to break the news instead.

"Well, guys, Montserrat is joining the team today," Olivia put a hand on Montserrat's shoulder. "Please show her the ropes, not that she needs a lot of training, but you know…"

"Show the new kid around," Nick got the jist, giving a smirk that indicated Montserrat was in for a spree of new kid jokes.

"Carisi, you're finally off the hook now," Fin confirmed Montserrat's thoughts with that and made her laugh when Sonny cheered with his hands in the air.

"Thank you for coming," Sonny oh-so-seriously told Montserrat.

"Thank you," Montserrat loved the type of dynamic the team seemed to have despite the atrocious crimes they dealt with every day. It didn't always happen.

"So, Detective Novak…?" Fin tested the name out with a bob of his head. "It's going to take some getting used to considering the only Novak we knew chewed our asses for not giving her perfect cases."

"But now we have Barba who has the perfect attitude towards our cases," Amanda said in the same sarcastic tone Fin had used.

"...I miss Casey," Fin quietly said a minute later.

"Okay," Olivia said in a tone that indicated she was switching gears to business. She showed Montserrat to her desk, which turned out to be opposite of Sonny's. "We did just get our latest victim to help us with a sketch of our perp…" but as she turned around the paper in her hands, the entire group agreed it was rather generic.

"That sketch is useless," Fin's blunt remark made Olivia sigh.

"Yes, I know but let's give it a shot, alright? We're gathering backup so start preparing - this is going to be an all day search," she started to turn but stopped midway, her index finger pointed at Montserrat. "And someone fill in our newest recruit please."

"Oh geez, definitely feeling like the new kid," Montserrat nodded to herself, missing the few smiles from the other team.

"Alright new kid," Sonny rose from his chair, stopping for a moment to take in what he said. A great big smile spread across his face. "Hey, it  _does_  feel good. I get the appeal now."

Montserrat cleared her throat, raising a finger in the air. "Yes, um, I believe there's a rapist out on the streets so if someone could get over the high school new kid thing that'd be great."

"Alright, c'mon Detective Novak," Fin was the one to get up this time. "These children don't know when to play and when to work," he said as he walked past her.

Montserrat followed him across the room and soon had the rest of the squad coming along with Olivia's sketch. At first glance she could see the case was pretty generic in that they didn't have outstanding evidence to nail one perp, but what they did have allowed for a search with some guidance.

"He has three victims so far but that's not going to last," Fin took the sketch from Nick and pinned it to the board. Montserrat made a face behind him - the sketch really  _was_ generic. "All victims have been white women over 40, raped in their doorways. Their attacker's young, black, male. Six-foot, wears a hoodie and a baseball cap."

"Starting to see the problems in the case...among other obvious stuff," Montserrat walked up to the board to see the details up close. "Had a gun…'I know you want it'?" she crinkled her nose and looked at the squad.

"That's more or less the basis of almost every case," Amanda warned her. "Be prepared for a lot of frustration."

"Duly noted," Montserrat nodded, glancing back at the board. Homicide was full of frustration too but she never really had to deal with cases where the suspect swore the victim wanted to be murdered.

Only a short moment later did Montserrat understand why the station had been so busy when she'd come in. Olivia had already started the preparations for the back up and search. The bullpen flooded with officers, tip line takers, and people Montserrat assumed were the higher bosses of SVU. She didn't recognize anyone and frankly, while the squad prepared to head out, she never felt so out of place. It would take time to get used to people, to really get to know them, but today was no day to dwell on her loneliness. There was a rapist who needed to be stopped and she would do everything in her power to help catch him.

~ 0 ~

Morning turned to afternoon and by the time it grew dark, everyone was exhausted. Still, they went all into their search. Stop-and-frisk wasn't the fastest things a cop could do but there was only going to be an end until they found the perp.

"How long this gonna take, man?" went one potential suspect as an officer forcibly turned him around for the search.

"What? You late for the opera?" Fin's response was a calm sarcasm Montserrat assumed was just part of the man's responsibility. She could see why Olivia suggested she should ride with Fin for this particular job. He was the next most experienced detective in the squad so he knew all the tricks and snarks from suspects.

"I already got a cop-and-feel from one of you people this afternoon!"

"Then you should quit complaining and just follow the instructions so you can go home quicker," Montserrat doubted the man would go home if given the chance. The street was filled with people intending no doubt to have fun on this Friday night.

"That's  _if_  he's going home," Fin corrected her then moved closer towards the man. "Live around here, honey?"

"Close enough, man!"

"Got any I.D.?"

"I don't have to give you that!"

"Sounds a bit defensive for someone who's got nothing to hide," Montserrat sarcastically mused. She got an agreeing nod from Fin.

"Huh, it's a nicely rolled blunt," said Fin a minute later after retrieving said item. "Party tonight?"

They heard a gunshot from a distance before the suspect couls answer. Both Montserrat and Fin forgot about the suspect and dashed towards the noise. They arrived at the scene to see a woman dressed in a sparkling, gold dress aiming a gun at a person who was already on the ground.

"Drop the gun! Put the gun down now!" Fin took the lead and pointed his gun at the woman.

Montserrat rushed to see who the shot victim was and pulled the hood to see a teenage boy. "I've got a pulse but we're going to need a bus now!"

"He was following me!" the shooter frantically cried, still lowering her gun as Fin instructed her. As far as she knew, she'd done nothing wrong. "He was gonna rape me!"

~ 0 ~

At the hospital, Olivia had both Fin and Montserrat relaying the situation to her because if things were wrong - even if it was the smallest of things - all of them would be in deep trouble.

"Suspect's Mehcad Carter, he's 16, he was shot once in the chest by the vic," Fin explained. "He's still in surgery, his parents are on the way."

"Sixteen?" Olivia repeated, already feeling the gravity of the situation turning against them. "Did he have a gun?"

Because that was exactly what the victim/shooter was claiming.

"No," Montserrat shook her head. "We recovered a cell phone from his pocket…?"

"Okay...and the victim? What about her?"

"Ms. Jolene Castille, the celebrity chef. She told us that she shot him in self-defense."

"Is this kid our serial?"

"Similar M.O. and description. We're waiting on an I.D. From the other vics," Fin said, reminding Olivia where Carisi was at the moment.

"The parents…" Olivia stopped when she spotted two frantic looking adults coming into the emergency room. She sighed. "Go talk to Jolene again and get her formal statement."

~ 0 ~

The victim was a blonde woman who did seem anxious about her encounter with the suspect. As she described the happenings to Fin and Montserrat, the ginger took a special interest in what Jolene was saying. The word choice was off, in Montserrat's opinion.

She kept this to herself and probably would have kept it away if no one had caught onto her the next day. She was sitting at the table in front of the pin board where all the squad's evidence for the case was set out. As Olivia once again had the detectives run her through Jolene's statement, Olivia noticed Montserrat constantly scrunching her face.

"Detective Novak, something you want to say?" Olivia's sudden call startled Montserrat.

She looked up from the table with an unsure expression. "Uum…"

Olivia sensed her hesitation but attributed it to the fact Montserrat was brand new to the team. "It's okay, you can say anything you want."

Montserrat looked at the other detectives and saw their agreeing nods. "Well...I don't want to start off on my first case with the impression that I don't believe the victim, but…"

"You don't believe the victim," Amanda finished for her. She was smiling in a knowing manner. "We've all had that in some cases. Why do you think Jolene is lying?"

"I don't - I mean, I don't know  _if_  she's lying," Montserrat took a moment to gather her thoughts. "I mean...when she told Fin and I how she just knew that Mechad wanted to rape her…" she trailed off, making a hand gesture to her side, "Who actually  _knows_ when someone wants to rape you? Jolene said he didn't physically attack her. And she's claimed there was a gun that hasn't appeared. Maybe I'm not thinking right…"

"Nah, we get what you mean," Amanda nodded and looked at the others who were also digesting Montserrat's perspective.

"We still have the dates that match with Mechad's outings," Sonny reminded just as a pure fact. "Not to mention two of our three victims already ID him."

"I know," Montserrat planted her elbows on the table then dug her hands into her fiery hair. "Listen to me, picking at a victim's statement."

She felt awful, yes she did. Her first case and she was trying to dismantle a statement she had no evidence that contradicted with Jolene's words. The ping of self doubt started and once that happened, there was a threat of spiraling.

~0~

The next day, Montserrat took herself to the only person who could offer some help.

"I didn't expect you for lunch," Casey Novak smiled at her cousin who'd unsurprisingly dropped by her office without a call. Montserrat's smile was sour as she gave a wide wave of hello with one hand. "Uh oh," Casey put down her pepsi bottle on her desk. "What's wrong?"

Montserrat dropped into the chair across Casey's desk. "Me, my integrity, my empathy, my sympathy-"

Casey raised a hand to stop Montserrat in her long list of what Casey considered dramatics. "Please, my workday ends at five. And this lunch is just comfort food."

Montserrat gazed down at the Chinese food sitting on the edge of the desk. "Case not going so well either?"

"Oh, he's an interesting one but…" Casey tilted her head, a ghost of a smirk playing at her lips, "...I don't think you came to the DAs office just to see how one of my cases is going."

Montserrat made a noise a child would when something wasn't going their way. "I think I'm screwing up on this case."

"Already? It's only been two days," Casey went for another bite of noodles. "What could you possibly get wrong in the span of two days?"

"Is that a challenge?"

"Montse, what's wrong?" Casey asked again, this time putting down her food to listen.

With a sigh, Montserrat straightened in her chair and began to divulge the contents of the case. "And I don't want to be known as the SVU detective who  _doesn't_  believe a rape victim but...the words this woman chose don't sit well with me."

"So you have doubt, big deal," Casey gave a light shrug. "Working at SVU can do that. Every case is different and, yes, sometimes you do get victims who lie and turn out not to be victims at all."

"She shot a sixteen year old boy, Casey."

"Oh, believe me, I  _know_ ," Casey said with an exceptional emphasis on her knowledge. "Rafael is already getting the push from the DA to get this case moving. I would not want to be in his shoes." Montserrat's flat face reminded Casey of the problem she was having. The ADA made an apologetic face. "Sorry."

"I mean, she claimed he had a gun but as it turns out it was just a cell phone. And said cellphone had nothing but a typical teenage boy's interests."

"So there's nothing to put him at the scenes of each rape?"

"GPS puts him in the West 80s every night that rapist hit…"

"Anything else?"

"Two out of three victims ID him."

Casey made the same face anyone sane would. "This sounds like it could be a case…"

"But it could also circumstantial," Montserrat quickly said but immediately regretted it. Another noise slipped through lips before she threw her head back in annoyance. "There I go again! There's no stopping me!"

Casey rolled her eyes while her cousin practically had a melt down. She took some seconds for herself to finish her lunch; noodles and chicken and finally a long swig of her pepsi. Montserrat kept rambling on about how she was a terrible SVU detective and should just go home. She didn't even notice when Casey had cleared her desk off and gathered her belongings. It wasn't until Casey tapped her on the shoulder did Montserrat realize her cousin had moved.

Casey stood behind Montserrat's chair, hands clasping her briefcase. "If you're done being dramatic, I have a plea deal to make."

"You know, I was under the impression that family was supposed to help each other out," Montserrat glumly stood up.

"I am," Casey's laughter didn't exactly make Montserrat believe her. "But you're being completely paranoid. It's your first case. You can't know the ins and outs of SVU in one day so you're bound to have doubts about everything. We all have different ways we start." She led Montserrat out of the office, past her assistant, and into the corridors.

"So how did you first start?" Montserrat knew of Casey's extensive history with SVU, including how she was disbarred for the mishandling of evidence, but she never really learned of Casey's first case with SVU. Casey had been young and originally wanted to be an ADA for Homicide.

Casey stopped with a momentary reluctance. "I went in too intensive. I put a victim who was just a kid to ID a suspect when the squad repeatedly warned me she wasn't ready. I actually ended up saving another kid who was stuffed inside a  _cooler_  and I...I ended up asking for a transfer that same night. It was too much for me."

Montserrat was surprised to hear the stress got to Casey in so little time. Naturally, Casey took things head on. Nothing shook her. "But obviously you didn't get the transfer then, so...what did you do to...get over it?"

"Well, first, Liv talked to me. She made me understand that someone needed to do the job and it should be someone who cared. I cared," Casey nodded, a ghost of a smile on her face. "My first case was, as I have pointed out, a rocky one. We all have them. Olivia herself had her first rape case get a little too close to her. Hell, you want to know how your current ADA first started here? With a belt. Around his neck."

Montserrat gaped while Casey took off on her own. "What!? Wait a minute - Casey!" she chased after her cousin with the intention of getting the full story about that one.

~0~

"Willie Smith, level three sex offender," Amanda pinned the mugshot of the indicated man onto the pin board. "Just paroled in Michigan."

"How did we miss this guy?" Montserrat was looking into the computer Amanda left on the table. "He's been sleeping at a shelter for the last two weeks and it's within ten blocks of each rape. Not to mention the fact each rape fits his old M.O."

"Sometimes they slip through a crack there shouldn't be," Sonny said the only thing he could. Fact was, they probably shouldn't have missed such a big detail but sometimes it just happened.

"There really shouldn't have been," Rafael agreed in that tone indicating he was more than irritated with the squad and the case in general. Olivia was beside him, wearing a face that said she'd already heard his lecture on the way.

Now it was their turn.

"In our defence, we were focusing on Mechad since he  _is_  still in critical condition at the hospital," Nick's sour tone didn't help anyone. "With Jolene's statement we put aside other cases for the moment."

"How'd that work out?" Rafael felt Olivia's hand on his shoulder, meaning for him to take it slow. However, she wasn't the one already getting word from picky, anxious bosses. He gazed over the evidence the squad had set out but momentarily diverted to the ginger smiling just a bit out of the ordinary for the situation. "Detective Novak, you're here…"

Montserrat briefly looked up from the computer, that odd smile still playing at her lips. "Yes, trying to work on this case…" she dove her gaze back on the screen and it seemed like she was struggling not to continue smiling.

"Something the matter, detective?"

Montserrat once again looked up to meet his inquisitive stare, along with the others, and felt an urge to laugh. She quickly shook her head and cleared her throat, hoping to force her laugher down her throat. "You mean besides the fact we're possibly looking at a woman who shot an innocent kid, no nothing."

"Uuh...should we bring back the victims to ID Willie…?" Fin made the question after pulling his gaze from the ginger. Newbies. Always so damn weird.

Rafael also switched back to business. "And if they do, then they'll have I.D.'D two different suspects. That just about defines reasonable doubt."

Fin raised an eyebrow. "So you  _don't_  want us to bring them in?"

It was clear at the moment even Rafael wasn't sure of the next right move. "I don't know…." He was taking a moment to think when Olivia reminded him of one important detail.

"There's the one vic who did not I.D. Mehcad. We could bring her in…"

"What? And just throw out the other two cases?" Amanda's finger pointed back to the pictures of the two victims.

"Do we have anything else to tie him to them other than M.O. And cross-race I.D.S?" even as Rafael dug for more details he could see the case wasn't going to get better even if it turned out there were more details they suddenly gathered.

"Willie said that he recycles cooking oil," Fin recalled and figured it was the best way to start again. "We'll get CSU to check their clothing and his for lard, oil residue."

"And if we do get a match...Jolene may have shot an innocent kid," Olivia pulled her glasses off to rub her tired eyes. She didn't even want to think about that roadway... but as usual, Rafael was already one step ahead.

"Question is, did she know that?"

That was the winning question, wasn't it?

~0~

"Kara, what the - what are you doing!?" Montserrat had opened the door to her apartment only to be met with burning smoke. She coughed and waved a hand in front of her face to clear the air.

The roommate question was dumping burnt bits of food from a pan into the trash. "Sorry! Sorry! I wanted to make a cool dessert!"

Montserrat spotted part of dinner neatly placed on the table. "So what happened?" She walked over to the windows in the kitchen to open them up.

"I found something tasty looking on YouTube," Kara pushed her dark brown hair behind her shoulders then proceeded to scrub the pan at the sink.

"Kara, I say this with love, please stay off the internet," Montserrat took a seat at the table and decided to pick at the dinner Kara made.

"The salon was empty and I got bored," Kara switched off the sink after putting the pan on the drier. She grabbed a towel to dry her hands then headed over for the table. "I thought I'd surprise you with something good after whatever you go do in that God awful job."

Montserrat was in the middle of chewing on a grape when Kara said that. "Gee, thanks." A minute later her cell phone pinged. She took a spoon of mashed potatoes, then fished her phone out of her back pocket.

Kara was pouring herself some soda when she noticed Montserrat's sudden pause mid-chew. "What?"

"... Mehcad died," Montserrat put her phone on the table. She brought a hand to her mouth to think about where their case was now headed.

"That's exactly what I mean," Kara shook her head. "I know you said you worked homicide but SVU takes a terrible twist with murders. I didn't even know that was possible."

Montserrat didn't pay much attention to her friend's words. Kara meant well and she knew it was just concern for her recent behavior. Montserrat was still working on being confident and a lot of other things Kara had no idea about, as well as anyone else besides Montserrat's shrink.

"Fin and Olivia are gonna go talk to the woman-"

"-you mean the shooter," Kara took a sip of her orange juice. "Because we both know that's what you think she is.'

"I am trying to see both sides but...now we're really going to see," Montserrat took her fork and went around the plate picking at the chicken. "I have a feeling this case is going to become a really heated one."

"I don't need to be a cop to know that," Kara snorted. "So if this does go to trial, can anyone go?"

Montserrat issued another look, this one signaling Kara's strange question. "Why?" Kara's widened smile was enough to make Montserrat conclude there and then it was a personal agenda that Kara had.

"I am not gonna miss any chance to see that ADA in court, up close," Kara made a hand gesture, matched with a face of 'duh'.

Montserrat silently put her fork down and stared at her roommate for a minute while Kara rambled on about Rafael. She actually described him in great detail, down to what he'd been wearing the night they saw him at the restaurant. "Amazing," Montserrat finally said after Kara took a pause (only to drink more soda). "You literally can never remember anything after getting hammered so why is  _this_  an exception?"

Kara swayed her head then dramatically stopped on a tilt, expression flat in seriousness. "I know you're like swimming in a pool of self doubt but that does not include blindness." Montserrat shook her head, but her laughter made Kara smirk. "You know I'm right. I've always got a good eye for good looking men."

"You're out of line, Kara Mackie" Montserrat pointed her fork at Kara. "And for the love of God don't you step near any courthouse. Ever."

Kara smirked widely and continued to eat. "You're lucky, Montse."

"And why is that?" Montserrat reached for her phone on the table again. She was probably going to be getting more updates on the case's situation. At the very least they would be taking a much closer look at Jolene's shot.

"Because you got to spend afternoons with him - wow!"

Montserrat raised an eyebrow of hers and slowly put her phone down on the table. "Kara, I was deadass nine months pregnant. If there was ever a time to look awful and unattractive in my life it was during  _that_  period. I couldn't even sit down on my own! Nor get up!"

"Hey, if anyone wants something to happen, it will."

Montserrat rolled her eyes, about to reject the idea when an image of her first prep session with Rafael popped into her head. She'd almost tripped and would've had a nasty fall if Rafael hadn't caught her so swiftly. It made her face feel warm when she remembered the close up of his eyes. He really did have nice eyes...and his arms - he was  _strong_.

"Montse…?"

"What?" Montserrat flinched when her roommate spoke her name. She felt her face get even more warm realizing she'd actually drifted off thinking about something that was supposed to be no big deal.

Kara watched with a growing smirk on her face. "What were you thinking about?"

"Nothing!" Montserrat made a dash to finish her dinner, practically stuffing her face.

"Oh,  _sure_ ," Kara bobbed her head, mimicking Montserrat. "Your face is almost as red as your hair. Admit it, you  _considered_  him."

"Shut up and eat your dinner, it's actually really good."

Kara laughed loudly.

~0~

Despite the protests on the streets against Jolene's act that made it impossible for a clean entrance into both the SVU station and the DAs office, Montserrat and Sonny pushed their way into the latter. It also didn't deter Sonny from making his best case on why it would be beneficial for him to shadow an ADA. Apparently, he was getting ready to take his bar exam. Interestingly though, Montserrat bore witness to the case being made towards her cousin, Casey.

The Homicide ADA had the two detectives trailing after her - well, Sonny was right behind her and Montserrat purposely lagged behind him. Sonny never realized when Montserrat left for their own ADAs office. He was just glad that Casey wouldn't mind his shadow if it was alright with Olivia.

Montserrat made a light knock against Rafael's office door just as he was finishing up a 'conversation' over the phone. It didn't sound like a regular conversation.

"Yes, sir. I do know what a long, hot summer is," he was also facing the window that probably overlooked the decent sized protest crowd outside. "Understood…"

"That did  _not_  sound like a good conversation," Montserrat remarked once he'd ended his call. "In fact that sounds more like somebody's in trouble and it's not Jolene."

"I guess it's an election year," the strained smile on Rafael's face was full of incrementing stress the case was putting on him combined with the DA. "No comment."

"Right," Montserrat knew he had a lot of comments but was holding himself to a professional level. She didn't blame him. Casey often times described just how the DA was on the inside...and Casey would know given her suspension period.

"Weren't there supposed to be two of you?" Rafael's finger pointed to the empty spot beside Montserrat.

"I'm not that new - I could have come alone," Montserrat made a face feigning offence. Of course it didn't help that Sonny came rushing in a couple seconds later. Rafael smirked at Montserrat, not needing to say what he was thinking. "I could have," the woman insisted with a frown on her face.

"Could have what?" Sonny cluelessly looked down at her.

"Nothing!"

"So...Willie Taylor. He's good for all the West Side rapes?" the ADA inquired from the two. It would solidify what needed to come next.

"Palm oil, olive oil, peanut oil, and lard on Willie and the vics. Mehcad was just a kid in a hoodie," Sonny was sorry to say for the dead kid. "Wrong place, wrong time…"

"And he was wearing the wrong skin," Montserrat's input made the two men stop and stare. "What? Everyone is thinking it and they're too afraid to say it out loud. I went with Finn and Olivia to Jolene's restaurant and I saw how she recoiled her hands when Fin reached just to motion them into a different room to talk in."

"Okay, devil's advocate, what was he doing in that neighborhood?" Rafael asked.

"His friends told us that he lost his metrocard. He was walking home," Sonny replied. He shared Montserrat's sentiment but even he knew the situation was too conflicting for one clean perspective.

"Okay, then why did he follow her to the gate?"

"His parents said he liked watching the cooking channel. Maybe he recognized Jolene, wanted an autograph."

"And Jolene, she's still sticking to her story?"

Montserrat made her input known with a scoff. "Try  _embellishing_. Now she's claiming that Mehcad told her, 'you know you want it' as if we didn't know she just pulled that coincidentally a day after it was leaked to the press."

"How'd she react to the M.E. Report?"

"She doubled down. Even though not one neighbor heard her scream."

"Her story's a house of cards. But she's just still hiding behind self-defense," Rafael wished it could be easier but it hardly was in this division.

"Look," Montserrat began again, this time more calm and serious, "I've seen my fair share of hate crimes in Homicide. I'm not being dramatic, I'm not blaming a victim just because...this just feels racially motivated."

Being more professional made Rafael take her more serious. She reverted back to the detective Casey talked eons about. "If it is, she'll have a history. Find it. This isn't going away."

"We'll get on it," Sonny dutifully nodded and motioned Montserrat to follow him out.

"Detective Novak?" Rafael stopped the ginger woman just as she was about to cross the doorway.

She turned back but gave Sonny a nod to wait for her out in the hallway. "Did I say something wrong back there?" was her immediate guess on why she was being held back. "I have a problem, I know-"

An unusual smile came to Rafael's face as he responded with some familiar words. "You have problems alright: your integrity, your empathy, your sympathy…"

Montserrat's eyes widened in horror as she recognized her previous lists of concerns she'd given Casey. "I'm gonna kill Casey Novak."

"This is literally the worst place to say that," Rafael laughed at her.

Montserrat was nowhere near amused. She came back - stalked over - and planted her hands on his desk, leaning forwards. " _How_  did you know that?"

Rafael sobered agonizingly slow - in Montserrat's opinion - but retained a smirk Montserrat figured was just part of his natural self. "Your cousin loves to pop in whenever the DA is breathing down my neck." Seeing her face getting redder from anger, he decided to throw in something that could possibly save Casey from actually being attacked. "She was just worried about you and she stopped by to see how the case was going. She's mentioned you had doubts about your competency here-"

Montserrat suddenly slammed her hands on the desk, effectively cutting him off. "She had no right to do that! If I come to someone to talk - to  _vent_  - that's automatically  _private_!" she shrugged when she reached her conclusion and withdrew her hands from the desk. "I'm gonna kill her! The DA is gonna have to find a new Homicide ADA because I'm about to kill the one they have now!"

Rafael had kept quiet throughout her long ramble, unbeknownst to her he was in his examination mode and he'd come up with a good solution. Of course, he knew what he was going to get into when he opened his mouth again but he couldn't listen to Montserrat's ridiculous cries of self doubt. "I did not take you to be a woman with such low confidence in herself."

Montserrat blinked in response. Her head gave a light tilt while she decided whether or not she'd heard right. His straight face was answer enough. "I do  _not_  have low confidence in myself," she responded a minute later, much more calm than before.

Rafael made his doubt known with a bob of his head. "The woman I met two months ago was a...what was it?" he pretended to think about it for a second before he nodded and answered himself. "Oh, right, a 'badass in general'. Wonder what happened to her…"

Montserrat released a breath borderlining an offended laugh. "Well excuse me but I literally  _withheld_   ** _labor_**  in a courtroom, in a  _trial_. So yeah, I had my moment. That was different. That was two months ago. This is me now, in a completely different setting. This is my first case as a detective in SVU so excuse me for having some doubt in my choices. I want it to go perfect."

"You're in SVU, nothing will  _ever_  be perfect," Rafael would've guessed Olivia to be the one to tell this to Montserrat before anything else. Apparently, it was going to be up to him to tell her the truth. "I've only been here a year and it took me only the first case I took on from them to figure out the structure of the division. You shouldn't - why the  _hell_  are you smiling?" he couldn't figure out when Montserrat had suddenly garnered a wide smile that seemed to be on the verge of laughing.

He wouldn't figure out that she was thinking about what Casey said in regards to first time cases, specifically  _his_  first case with SVU.

 _Don't you dare laugh, Montserrat_. Montserrat pursed her lips together, pressed them hard, to swallow down that threatening laugh in her throat. "You're right," she said in a strained tone. "Everything you said is right - I gotta go."

"What was so funny-"

"-nothing!" Montserrat answered before he could even finish the question. The fact was she was staring at the desk with trembling lips.  _Don't laugh_ , she warned herself. "I have to go, Sonny's waiting. But thanks for the real life talk. Oh but I'm still killing Casey." She turned on her heels and walked straight out of the office, withholding her laugh until she was in the hallway.

Meanwhile, Rafael was left with the impression that Montserrat was an even stranger Novak to deal with.

Sonny, on the other hand, had to deal with a partner who had such an endless laughter. "I didn't think anything was funny right now," he admitted in hopes of being let in on the joke.

Montserrat took in a deep breath and hoped to God she was done. It was ridiculous, honestly, to even be doing this and she was sure if Rafael found out he would probably kill her. "Sonny, it's nothing, trust me. Rafael just said a really funny joke."

Sonny snorted. "Now I know you're lying. Barba never jokes."

"Why do you people call each other by your last names? Kinda weird," Montserrat said in a swift move to change topics.

"I don't know, just the way things are I guess," Sonny shrugged.

"I mean, I'll call you by your last name sometimes but I'm not going to do that all the time," Montserrat continued on.

"Alright, but even if I did call you by your name, it's a mouthful!"

Montserrat pretended to gasp in offence. "My name is pretty and it deserves to be said in whole. But if you're that weary of it, Montse is fine too."

Sonny smiled and tested the name out. "Montse? See, easier to say. That's why I use Sonny instead."

"What's your real name?" Montserrat wondered just as they'd come out of the DAs building. "I know you and Fin use nicknames, so...what is it? What's the big, ugly name your mother gave you?"

"My name's Dominick and it's a fine name," went the man in defensive mode. Montserrat laughed at him but agreed it was a good name.

"Alright then, Dominick, you wanna tell me why you asked my cousin if you could shadow her instead of your actual ADA?" Montserrat started down the steps for the sidewalk. "I mean, I figure you ought to know Rafael better than you do Casey."

"I do, but I asked Casey as a backup. I'll ask Barba after the Jolene case is done."

"That still doesn't make much sense," Montserrat stopped by the sidewalk for a moment. "Why would you ask Casey as a back up? Is Rafael that stickler who'd say no?"

"I don't think so…" Sonny shifted on his feet, something about him suddenly nervous.

"Sonny…?"

"...he scares me sometimes," the man promptly answered and started heading for their car.

Montserrat honestly would need a minute to laugh before she could follow to the car.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I'm back! And since the recent comments pretty much say the same, I'll respond to it here by saying thanks so much for reading and liking the story! We'll get to know more of what happened with Montse in the past as the story goes on!


	6. Twists and Turns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The case against Jolene comes to an end and Montserrat finally gets the real truth about SVU.

Later that night, Montserrat and her roommate Kara were in the living room with the latter painting the former's nails. Montserrat thanked the Lord Kara was an expert in all things beauty because sometimes a woman just needed to relax. And since Kara ran a personal salon, she had everything required for a perfect relaxing night. Of course that only happened if unexpected visitors didn't drop by.

"Casey, what are you doing here?" Montserrat blew air to her right hand's nails. They were painted a meat, glossy frosty blue.

"I came in to see how you were doing," Casey walked right on in and was immediately hit with the smell of acetone. She waved a hand in front of her face. "But I guess I was worried over nothing."

"Hi Casey, you want me to do yours?" Kara greeted in her usual cheerful way.

"No thanks," Casey turned sideways to see her cousin closing the door. "I hear you're planning on taking Jolene Castillo to trial. Brave souls..."

Montserrat turned to face her cousin with an unusual smile. "Wonder where you heard that…"

"I want to make sure your problems aren't still affecting you-"

"-oh, you mean my problems that I told  _you_  in confidence but somehow my ADA already knows them?"

Casey expected that type of sarcasm that usually came before Montserrat burst into anger. "I know you're a little upset but I was just trying to make sure neither Rafael not Olivia were hard on you in this case. They can both be a little persistent and intense-"

"-then how about you let  _me_  conclude that?" Montserrat sighed in annoyance and returned to sit down next to Kara. "I don't know either of them that well - I don't know  _anyone_  there actually - so the last thing I need is for someone to get the idea that I'm not tough enough for the division. And just so you know, I did already have a somewhat conversation with Olivia so you telling Rafael everything did nothing for me."

Casey tilted her head, her expression swirling with guilt that even Kara saw straight away. Montserrat didn't bother feeling sorry about her words. She was so irritated that Casey took it upon herself to speak  _her_  problems to someone else.

"I'm serious," the Detective insisted before Casey got into the idea she was wrong. "He said I lacked self confidence right to my face." Kara laughed out of her surprise but Casey attributed Rafael's words to it just being him.

"That's just how he is. He's straight forwards-"

"-I hadn't noticed!"

Casey released a big sigh and sat on the arm rest of the couch. "Maybe it's what needed to be done." Her new alternative way of thinking made her look no better in the eyes of her cousin. "I would have never been brave enough to tell you that you lacked self confidence but Rafael doesn't really have that problem. Whether it's business or personal he'll say what needs to be said."

"Yeah, I learned that, thanks," Montserrat leaned against the couch with a great big frown, reminding Kara and Casey of a child. "I do not lack self confidence," she muttered and made the other two women laugh.

~0~

With extra fuel gained against Jolene, a trial was inevitable. The woman was accused of shooting an unarmed, innocent boy and if all went well she would pay for her crime. The press was gobbling up the case as a common racism act and unfortunately Jolene was the only one who could give the facts of the case, which meant she'd be the one with the most abilities to change the perspective of the public. The M.E.'s report of Mehcad being in reality five feet away from Jolene was a strong suit, but it still didn't do much when all the prosecution had was what other people had to say about Mehcad. It was fairly difficult for the team to see Mechad's mother take the stand when the woman practically broke down over her dead son.

It didn't get any better when Montserrat got a lovely request from the defense.

"I wasn't even part of the case from the beginning!" she raged in front of the team without interruptions for a good minute. The conference room played host to her pacing and the squad's quick get together to plan for the trial that afternoon.

"It doesn't matter, you know all the details of the case," Olivia tried to calm her down but Montserrat was focusing on the reason she was called.

"And so do the rest of you," Montserrat gestured to the rest of the squad. "How come they haven't been called up to testify?"

"Well, some of us don't want to call us up…" Fin couldn't help make the remark at Rafael, the latter rolling his eyes.

"We've been through this!" went the ADA. "It's just better if you don't-"

"-but the defense already has me lined up for tomorrow," Fin reminded then brought a hand to point at Montserrat. "And they clearly have a plan because she's right, she wasn't in the case until the very end."

Rafael took a moment to consider the motive the defense had for this particular move. Montserrat really did come in at the very end of the case, even though she was there when Jolene made the shot. Still, it would have been a smarter move to take another detective to talk about the case. It absolutely irked him that he was blindsided by the motive -  _what_ was the motive? His finger pointing at Montserrat made the ginger slowly come to a stop. "You need to pull yourself together, Detective. It's not the first time you're on the stand and I doubt it's the first time you've been suddenly placed on the stand. Correct?"

Montserrat swayed her head. "Well...I mean, it's not-"

"- _correct_?" his sharpness made her flinch.

"Yes, fine, it's not."

"Then compose yourself and start heading out."

Montserrat glared at him for the way he ordered her. If it wasn't for the fact she really did need to get going, she would've had something to say. Silently, she turned on her heels and walked out of the room.

"You really think talking to her like she's some kid is going to help anyone?" Amanda was the one to ask after Montserrat had left.

"It's the only way she seems to be responding right now," Rafael gave a careless shrug of his shoulders. "Not my fault. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to figure out a motive in one hour."

He was wrong - he needed to figure it out on the way to the courtroom.

~ 0 ~

It was difficult for Montserrat not to picture the last time she'd been in a courtroom testifying. Her hand settled over her non-existent pregnant belly when she sat down at the stand. At least this time she wasn't in danger of popping out a human being before the trial was over.

"Detective Novak," called the defense, an old man with stark gray hair. Mr. Cohen had proven to be a lawyer with a ridiculous talent of twisting things. He'd already made Mehcad's reverend look like a clueless man. Montserrat wondered what he would attempt to do with her.

Rafael wondered the same thing.

"Your team arrested Willie Taylor two days after Mehcad was taken to the hospital?" Cohen made a slow walk towards the stand, eyes intensely on Montserrat.

"Yes," Montserrat nodded, intending on speaking slowly just in case Cohen intended on tricking her. "We linked him to the three open rapes on the West Side."

Cohen took a moment of pause before he asked the next question. "Detective, you just transferred into SVU, correct?"

"Objection," Rafael cut in with the same confusion Montserrat - and the rest of the squad for that matter - had. "The detective's duration in SVU has no relevance in this case."

"I am leading up to a point, your honor," Cohen simply explained, leaving an air of curiosity on just what point that was.

"Overruled," the judge ended up saying. She glanced at Montserrat and indicated the ginger had to answer.

"Yes, I transferred to SVU about four days ago."

"And this case has been open for about a week and a half meaning you've had to read files in order to catch up?"

"...yes. SVU is a very organized division, it didn't take long for me to know what the situation was."

"So you were like any other civilian reading details of a dangerous man in the streets raping women?"

"Well, I...I don't think so - I did what protocol demanded," Montserrat knew if she began to sound frantic or even upset it would give the jury a reason to doubt her assurances.

"But unlike the rest of your team, you only knew what you read - you never went out to the field to see evidence-"

"-I was out-"

"-you didn't meet with the victims-"

"-because I was out!"

"So in retrospect, weren't you almost like my client in that you only had what the media said about the rapist?" Cohen gestured back to Jolene sitting at her table.

Montserrat opened her mouth to answer in a snap but she crossed looks with Rafael who was narrowing his eyes on Cohen.

He'd figured out Cohen's motive.

Montserrat promptly closed her mouth and turned her attention back to Cohen. "No, I was not." Her calm response elicited a rather irritated response from the defense. Clearly, he wanted her riled up. "I am a trained detective. I know what I'm doing."

"As far as you knew, Detective, Mehcad Carter's appearance fit the rapist's profile due to the way he was dressed and he fact he followed my client, correct?"

Montserrat raised an eyebrow at the man. "You're asking me if he was a young, black male on a public sidewalk? That's your question?"

"Your honor," Cohen sounded like he was whining to his mother. Montserrat barely held herself from rolling her eyes when the judge ordered her to answer the question.

"Yes, based on what I read off the case files, he did fit the pattern."

"Based on what you read," Cohen repeated, pointing at Jolene again. "So you claim you're a trained detective - you know what you're doing - so how is it that with all your experience as a detective, you would want my client to figure out in a single minute that Mehcad was the rapist the media talked about when it took you and your team two days to figure it out?"

Montserrat knew that however she answered that she would fall right into Cohen's trap. He'd twisted her words to benefit Jolene and it worked.  _Welcome to SVU indeed_.

~ 0 ~

"What just happened in there?" Nick was the first one to ask after they were released from court.

Montserrat was coming towards them with arms crossed and a rather restrained frown. "I let them fool a jury, that's what I did."

"It's not on you," Olivia tried to say but Montserrat shook her head.

"That guy made me start out as a detective with questionable skills-"

"-so you would defend yourself and give him the perfect opening to show that if a well trained detective took some days to figure a case out, what chances did Jolene have?" Rafael finished for her in one quick phrase.

Montserrat took his silence as him blaming her for being so naive. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize what he was going to get at-"

"-neither did I," and that's what irritated the hell out of Rafael. He was so focused on getting to the motive before Cohen could pull his trick and yet he'd failed. He'd only realized it just before Cohen went in with his trick. "It was an obscure trick, I should have realized it sooner. But it's not going to be the end."

"Any ideas?" Fin walked up beside him. "Preferably before I take the stand tomorrow?"

Montserrat dropped her hands to her sides and pointed an index finger at them. "I'll get back to you on that."

"Where are you going?" Amanda asked her just as the woman turned to leave.

"To get some new ammunition," Montserrat answered in the form of a promise. "Cohen thinks my skills are oh-so-grand so I'll just prove it with some valuable evidence."

"Liv, can I go with her?" Sonny's sudden request earned himself some curious looks from the team. "She's not in a good state," he shrugged. "I just meant-"

Olivia gave him the nod to go ahead. "Make sure she gets home...and maybe we should call Casey…"

"Don't," Rafael pointed a finger at her. "It might be productive if Novak actually finds something for us to use because Cohen really upped Jolene's innocence aura today."

That was a mutual agreement amongst them.

~ 0 ~

Montserrat took her promise very seriously. She returned to the station only to pick up her things and head home in order to work all night - comfortably - if she needed to. Of course, even with Sonny there, she wouldn't retract her intentions.

"We've been looking at these things, Montse. Trust me," Sonny thought it was a long shot since, as Montserrat once put it, she was still new to the team. Trust was earned slowly.

"Thanks for the words of encouragement but I just basically screwed Rafael's case over so I'm not stopping until I get something to help him," Montserrat stuffed her laptop into her bag.

"Trust us - sorry," Sonny shook his head and started anew, "He's had cases much worse."

Montserrat paused all of a sudden when an odd smile started worming its way across her face. "My God I'm awful," she mumbled and actually chuckled a bit.

"What?" Sonny watched her with curiosity. "How come you keep smiling like that? You do that a lot, actually."

"Inside joke," Montserrat left it at that and continued to take her belongings. "Listen, Sonny, I think it's nice of you to check up on me like this but it's not necessary. My last partner knew that when I got like this I was best on my own." And judging by her warm smile it didn't appear like it offended her in anyway.

"Well that was Homicide, but now you're in SVU," Sonny gestured to the bullpen as a reminder. "And we're a team here, but beyond that we're like family."

"Even when it's so clear some of you guys want to kill each other a lot of the time?"

"Isn't that like family?"

Montserrat laughed lightly. "Maybe. My brother and I can attest to it."

"You have a brother?"

Montserrat nodded her head. "Older brother. Gael and I get into arguments every once in a while that usually feels like we'll strangle each other."

Sonny laughed next as he thought about his own family. "I have several sisters and I'm pretty sure each one of them has had a reason to nearly bury me alive. But see? That's the point I'm trying to make. We're a weird little family but we help each other out, so…" he went back to his desk and picked up his own laptop. "Where do you want to work?"

Montserrat smiled.

~ 0 ~

When Kara entered her apartment, she was most looking forwards to a nice, relaxing bath. After a long day at the salon - that left her smelling like hair dye - she really just wanted to bathe, pull up Netflix and fall asleep on her bed. What she found on her way in was a much different expectation.

"What the hell happened to my living room!?" she shrieked at all the papers sprawled across the living room. She saw charger cables underneath her coffee table, one of them knotted by the couch. She got the whiff of coffee from the kitchen and groaned, throwing her head back. She almost dropped her shopping bags on the ground when she yelled, "Montserrat Irene Novak - what have you done to my apartment!?"

"Montse's middle name is Irene?" Sonny emerged from the kitchen with a coffee mug in hand.

Kara's eyes snapped open to see the stranger holding  _her_ mug. She had half a mind to scold him but she very rapidly concluded he was  _really_ good looking. "Who are you and should I call the cops or do whatever the hell you want?"

"I'm sorry," Sonny realized this must have been the roommate Montserrat mentioned earlier. He left his mug on the coffee table and walked up to Kara (who hadn't stopped staring at him since she'd seen him). "I work with Montserrat. I'm Dominick Carisi, but people just call me Sonny." He extended his hand to shake with hers but Kara slowly looked down at her hands occupied with bags. "Let me help you with that!" He took the bags out of her hands, flashed her a smile, and took them to the kitchen table.

 _Wow_ , Kara mouthed. Maybe being a detective wasn't so bad…

"You're Kara Mackie, right?" Sonny turned back to the staring woman. "Montse mentioned you-"

"-I did what?" Montserrat walked out of the hallway with her tablet in hand.

"That's my tablet," Kara frowned. "I was planning on Netflix tonight!"

"I just needed to open up a page my computer wouldn't," Montserrat waved a hand at her roommate, basically telling Kara to leave her alone.

"I have no idea what's going on," Kara bluntly said.

"Investigation, digging for details - that's a friend, Sonny," Montserrat once again waved her off. "Sonny, that's the roommate, blah, blah, blah!"

Kara raised an eyebrow at her. "I'm guessing the trial didn't go as planned?"

"Things went...a little wrong, but we're working on it," Sonny explained.

Kara immediately smiled at him. "Well, you can work here for as long as you want. I definitely feel safer with you around."

Montserrat looked up from her tablet to see Kara smirking and poor Sonny red-faced. "Don't you even dare, Kara Mackie."

"Whaaaat?" Kara leaned towards Sonny, her hands put together in front of her. "He doesn't mind keeping a defenseless civilian safe, right?"

"I-I don't," Sonny stuttered to respond, making Kara's smirk even wider. She had intense green eyes and a rather pretty smile. "It's my job, actually…"

"Would you like something to eat? I bet my rude roommate didn't even bother to offer you some dinner."

"Oh my God, you two quit it," Montserrat waved them off and cheered when the tablet finally loaded the PDF file she'd been waiting for. Her eyes skimmed a couple paragraphs before she cheered and jumped off the couch. "Sonny! I got something!"

"What is it?" Sonny apologized to Kara for leaving with a quick smile and hurried to see Montserrat's file.

"Something that'll put a sock in Cohen's little charade," Montserrat smirked.

~ 0 ~

Everything Montserrat and Sonny had found now laid in front of Rafael. His hand was placed right over it, his fingers tapping silently over it while they waited for Cohen to finish asking Jolene his questions. If he could get Jolene to trip over her own words, it could give the jury a reason to turn on her. Up until now they've only seen sweet, defenseless Jolene but now they held a piece of her true self.

It seemed like Jolene knew exactly what was coming to her because the moment Rafael got up from his seat, she straightened in her own seat. She'd been warned.

"Ms. Castille, you just said you love your black employees…?"

"I love all my employees. I have a gay Chinese assistant-"

"Good for you. But your black employees are the only ones that you refer to as 'field hands'?"

The direct question made Jolene pause for a moment, but even her answer came in the form of something made up on the spot."Well, that was blurted out during a moment of duress. It's a vestige of the way I was raised. I meant no disrespect."

Rafael nodded to every word she said as if he believed her. "And when you denied black employees the use of the dining room bathrooms, that was also just a vestige?"

"Our restaurants are about hospitality. I have never denied an employee a fair working environment, promotion."

"As long as they don't serve food to white customers or use their bathrooms?"

"Objection!" Cohen immediately cried.

"Mr. Barba, move on," the judge motioned the man to keep going. And he was going somewhere alright.

"The first Chez Jolene was in new Orleans. Did you carry a gun then?"

"No, there was no need."

"What, so you only started carrying a concealed gun in New York? Why is that?"

Jolene very discreetly leveled Rafael's challenging look with one of her own. "When I moved up here, I was a public figure. I felt more threatened."

"Because New York was less segregated than you're used to?"

"I didn't say that."

"But you did say in 'Les Bons Temps Magazine'..." Rafael went back for the file left on his table. Jolene watched him read off God knew what and wondered when her lawyer would step up. "You said ' _Nobody takes the subway in New York unless they have to. It's like a jungle train through the Congo'_."

"Everybody knows that was just a joke. A telling joke."

Rafael left the file to drop back on the table and turned back to Jolene. "On the night you saw Mehcad Carter, did you see a field hand, a jungle animal, or just a boy trying to make his way home?"

Cohen rose from his seat in outrage. "Objection-"

"No, I want to answer that," Jolene told the judge before the latter could say anything. "I saw a hooded man following me. I told him to back off, and he came through my gate."

Rafael could see she was beginning to cross into that frantic state. It was just a matter of pulling at the right strings. "So if it had been a white man who was walking behind you, would you have told him to get back? Would you have pulled your gun?"

"Objection!"

"If it was a white boy, I wouldn't have been afraid!" Jolene's outburst promptly came after successfully pulling the right string.

Rafael pretended to be surprised, even though he and the rest of the team knew it was just the woman's natural self. "So, let's be clear. Mehcad Carter didn't have to do anything. He didn't have to say anything. He just had to be a black boy standing on your sidewalk and that gave you the right to shoot him?"

Jolene's eyes flickered to the jury now staring at her like hawks. "That's not what I said…"

"Isn't it?" Rafael knew she wouldn't even try to argue her way out of that. If she did, she would just give the jury an even uglier side to see. Even he wished hard enough, it wouldn't be that easy. "Nothing further." He turned and headed back for his seat, but not before catching Montserrat smiling widely in her seat.

 _He was_   _ **good** ,_ Montserrat thought.

~ 0 ~

Come Fin's testimony, the game was once again half and half. It didn't exactly benefit nor hurt either side, but it did mean the jury could go either way on their verdict. So, when the jury did return, everyone on both sides were anxious to know the decision made.

"In the matter of the people versus Jolene Castille, on the charge of manslaughter, how do you find?" the judge asked the woman speaking for the jury.

"We find the defendant not guilty."

"Hell no!" someone in the crowd immediately shouted, jumping to their feet. It started a whole commotion of the same outburst.

"Order! Order!" the judge banged her gavel to quiet them down. "Jolene Castille, you're free to go. The jury is dismissed. The state of New York thanks you for your service."

"How the hell did that happen?" Montserrat couldn't find the answer herself, and it didn't help that the first thing they saw was Jolene giving one interview while Mehcad's parents did another across her.

"A juror told me they were split on the first poll," Fin admitted, gaining several looks from his Squad.

"What happened?" asked Olivia.

"Fear won out."

"I'm sorry," Rafael's apology came in a blurt. He was looking directly at Jolene at the bottom of the courthouse stairs. It made him sick that she got to give interview where she could freely say she didn't do anything wrong.

"No. It's not on you," Fin meant to absolve him of guilt since it really was not their fault. Everyone knew they did their best; they gave Rafael the best they could and he himself did the best he could with the trial. "It's just how it is."

~ 0 ~

"The first case I got to work with in SVU and...we got a 'not guilty' verdict," Montserrat relayed the case and the trial to her therapist. Dr. Weslin had of course known about the trial thanks to the media, but Montserrat still gave her the details. "I worked hard - I mean, I was doubting myself 80% of the time...I actually thought maybe that's why we failed…"

"You mentioned that your squad got all the evidence they could," Weslin said as a reminder of reality. "You yourself went ahead and pulled out new evidence against Miss Castille. Do you truly believe you were the reason the jury gave a not guilty verdict?"

Montserrat remained quiet for a minute while she thought about it. "...I did, actually. I truly thought it was on me because...because of my testimony. The defense twisted my words and...it gave Jolene an upper hand."

"What made you change your mind, then?" Weslin was curious of what led Montserrat to completely change her mind on the matter. Ever since she started SVU she'd mentioned she was full of doubts.

A light smile appeared on Montserrat's face. Her gaze was to the side and it seemed like she was thinking of something else. "I...talked to someone…"

* * *

  **The night before:**

"I'm beginning to think this is a common thing for you," Montserrat motioned the bartender to come by then shifted in her seat to look at Rafael. He was nursing a glass of scotch, which also made Montserrat think it was his usual thing.

"You're learning," Rafael's light sarcasm was notice enough of his mood.

"Is this where everyone goes when they have a bad case?" Montserrat looked around the light-lit restaurant with some curiosity. "I've only ever been here a couple times since I moved to Manhattan. I might join the club." The silence between the two made her feel even worse.

The trial finished earlier in the day and it seemed like everyone had their own way of grieving. Montserrat didn't feel like bringing her sour mood to Kara - it wasn't Kara's fault after all.

"I'm sorry," Montserrat spoke after she'd gotten her drink. She gazed down at the glass, her hands firmly planted on either side of it. "I thought with the new evidence I gave you it would be enough to help after my oh-so-grand testimony. Clearly, I was wrong."

"Novak, this had nothing to do with your testimony," Rafael put down his glass and side-glanced her. Montserrat gave him a sharp look in return - she was new, but she wasn't stupid. Rafael sighed and amended his statement. "Fine, maybe it was part of an  _overall_  reason. Each evidence, each testimony is like a puzzle piece. Every piece carries weight and sometimes it's a combination of all the pieces that'll become the reason for a verdict."

"It was the first case I got to work on after...after a while," Montserrat sighed. She swallowed hard as she really thought about her year. "I stopped working almost a year ago so...so when I showed up at SVU, I was out of sync with everything."

"Your self confidence took a dive for sure," Rafael picked up his glass to take a drink.

Montserrat shook her head at him. "Give me a break. I got pregnant, I went into a 12 hour labor period, I moved cities, I transferred into a whole new division, I...I was  _not_  in my place. This case threw me off even more. I just wanted it to go well…"

"And I didn't help," Rafael sourly finished for her. "Sorry, Detective, that your first case was a not guilty-verdict one."

"It wasn't on you either," Montserrat sighed. No matter her feelings towards the case, she couldn't deny what she saw, and the truth was that she saw Rafael do everything he could to give Mehcad justice.

"Would you say that to your old ADA?"

Montserrat internally shuddered at the thought of her old co-workers. She propped an elbow on the counter so that she could rest her cheek on her hand. The smile that came to her face confused Rafael as he once again drank from his glass.

"What?" he frowned.

"The last ADA I worked with was talented, he was annoying but...decently talented. It took me awhile to see it, though," her story still answered no questions. "I'm talking  _months_. With you, though, it took me about two days."

Now mildly interested, Rafael left his glass on the counter. "Why's that?"

"I was feeling...down, so I talked to Casey and I asked her how was her first case at SVU. Somehow, she mentioned you. Your first case you took from SVU."

Rafael gave a curt nod as he thought about that particular case. One of his hands instinctively came to rub his neck. He dropped his hand, though, the second he saw Montserrat smiling like she would laugh. "Is  _that_  why you've been doing that!?"

"Guilty as charged," she raised her hands and finally got to laugh freely. "I can't believe you nearly got yourself choked with a belt -  _your_  belt!"

"How unprofessional, Detective," he scowled at her. "I did a fine job with that case-"

"-yeah, you did," Montserrat agreed with the same determination he used to make his point. "I was impressed that someone would go to that extent to help give the victim justice. So, that being said, I  _know_  you did what you could for this case. Maybe neither of us are at fault."

Rafael stared at her for a while. He learned straight off that she tended to switch through emotions - which, at first, he attributed to the fact she'd been pregnant - but for the first time, she seemed sure of things. "Detective, have you finally overcome your self confidence issues?"

Montserrat smiled and turned her head away. Her gaze found her untouched glass on the counter. The case really had been problematic from the start, and yes she did own up to her self issues. Part of her issues derived from her troublesome year but maybe it was time to start letting them go. She brought her forearms to once again rest over the counter, keeping her glass in the middle. "I do not lack self confidence."

Rafael noticed the change in her tone right away. Each time she went near that topic she was defensive, mad as hell. Now, it just seemed like she was correcting a mistake someone made. "I never thought you did." His admission confused Montserrat. He did, after all, practically shout it to her face. "Listen, Novak, you were getting dangerously close to doing something rash because of your first case. Casey talked to me and she told me things about you. I said what I said to get you to snap out of it. I've been here a year and it only took me the first case I took on from SVU to figure out the structure of the division."

"Clearly," Montserrat bit her lip to keep herself from laughing. Rafael playfully rolled his eyes.

"The cases will never be perfect, Detective," he began again, completely serious as he shifted in his seat to better face her. "Your choices will never be concrete and they most certainly will include doubt every once in a while. That being said, you shouldn't be doubting yourself at every corner. And, just to be clear, I don't believe you lack self confidence. As you once said-" he paused and pointed at her, correcting himself, "-well, shouted at me, actually, you  _witheld_  labor during trial. Anyone who does that has absolutely no problems with confidence in my book."

Montserrat felt a warmth creep across her face. She took a moment to let the heat pass but when she saw Rafael still looking at her, it just came back. "Thank you," she smiled at him.

As she reached for her drink - to taste it for the first time - Rafael concluded she had a pretty smile.


	7. A Detective's Business

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Montserrat has an argument with another detective so she goes out to lunch with someone else who helps her figure things out.

Kara Mackie was a talented hairstylist and, in her opinion, a good friend. When she met Montserrat, the two were just being introduced to each other as their older brothers' little sisters. They were, essentially, dumped together so that the older brothers could have fun without having to babysit. Despite being different, Montserrat and Kara got along well in their teen days. Kara loved using Montserrat as her experiment for hair styles and nail designs - though Montserrat never let Kara come anywhere near her with scissors - and Montserrat just liked how carefree Kara was in general.

So, when Montserrat found herself in need of a temporary living arrangement, Kara was more than happy to offer an empty room in her apartment. She knew that Montserrat's brother was already occupied raising his two daughters on his own and Montserrat would probably feel more comfortable away from the hectic life that was parenthood. She didn't know what brought Montserrat to move to Manhattan since her brother and father lived in Queens, but Kara was happy to have her closest friend become her roommate.

After her surrogacy pregnancy, Kara expected Montserrat to be over the moon not having to deal with pregnancy in general. In Kara's opinion, it seemed to be doing more harm than good for Montserrat. There were times when Kara would catch Montserrat staring into nothing yet progressively getting tears or pale in the face. In a short time living together, Kara noticed Montserrat had strange ticks - she would do strange things and then give some bad excuse.

Tonight was one example. Kara had made dinner and decided it would be a Netflix night. Unfortunately, Montserrat never showed up.

She even called the SVU station and - though answered by that cute Detective Carisi - she didn't get much relief.

"Montse left two hours ago," Carisi explained, sounding just as confused as Kara was. "She hasn't come home?"

"No," Kara bit her lip anxiously. "I don't know where she is. She's not answering her phone and - oh my God, what do I do?"

"Hold on, hold on," Sonny cut in before she hyperventilated in some ramble of concerns. "It's only ten, so let's give her another hour. She may just be out or something. If she's not back by eleven, you give me another call, alright?"

"What if it's not you that answers?" Kara knew she'd dialed Montserrat's desk number and that was all she had to get in contact with Montserrat at work whenever the ginger didn't answer her cell phone. "I'm gonna have to explain all over again and that would be wasting time!"

Though she didn't see it, Sonny smiled on the other line. She'd raised her voice during her moment of concern and it was frankly amusing. "Don't worry, I'll give you my number. But try not to worry so much, Montse is probably out having a drink. We did handle another troubling case."

Kara wanted to believe in the cute detective's story. Just as she'd written down Sonny's number - and being promised that he would be attentive to her call - she heard the doorknob rattling from a key. Montserrat walked in a couple seconds later, looking perfectly fine.

"Oh, she's here! Thank you, Sonny!" Kara happily hung up and hurried up to her friend, throwing her arms around Montserrat. "I'm so glad you're okay!"

"Why were you talking to Sonny?" Montserrat scrunched her face in confusion as Kara practically bounced up and down while she hugged Montserrat. "And what do you mean you're glad I'm okay? Why wouldn't I be okay?"

Kara suddenly pulled away from Montserrat and glared. Without warning, she smacked Montserrat on the arm, ignoring the great big 'OW!' Montserrat gave. "Where the hell were you!? You said you come out of work at eight-"

"-conditional," Montserrat reminded as she rubbed her arm where Kara hit her. "Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. SVU is like that."

"Well, Sonny said you got out two hours ago so where the hell were you?" Kara crossed her arms.

Montserrat started taking off her coat, clearly avoiding Kara's gaze as she moved around the blonde. "I was...having some drinks with Casey."

"Really?" Kara turned after Montserrat but stayed in her spot.

Montserrat left her coat on the couch and dropped her bag on the floor. She glanced back at Kara and nodded her head. "Yes, why?"

"I called Casey after I called your brother, neither of them knew where you were."

Montserrat made a face at her roommate. "Don't you think you overreacted?"

"That is not the point!" Kara snapped, startling Montserrat. "You just lied to me! Where were you?"

"What does it matter?" Montserrat picked up her bag after deciding fast she wouldn't be having time out in the living room. "I was out."

"Montse, this is the 21st century, I could honestly care less if you met some guy and had a random quickie. The point is, you don't have to lie to me!"

Montserrat laughed. "First of all, that is  _not_ what happened. Second of all, not everything I do is your business." Kara squeaked with offence. Montserrat snatched her coat from the couch and started for her bedroom. "Goodnight, Kara!"

She slammed her bedroom door shut, locking it in case Kara had intentions of continuing the fascinating argument. She walked to her bed and sat down then pulled out her phone. Her finger tapped the screen to bring it to life. She went straight to her gallery of photos and started swiping through the most recent ones she'd gotten. A light, warm smile started spreading across her face with each photo she saw.

~ 0 ~

Montserrat figured that the issue of her whereabouts would have been left at home with Kara, but apparently her co-worker was just as irritating as her roommate. Montserrat rued the day she gave Kara her work number, because thanks to her Sonny hounded Montserrat about the previous night. Even when they had so many cases to go through - a lot of which consisted of paperwork - she still couldn't free herself of the overbearing lanky man.

Montserrat dug her nails into her hair and groaned. "Carisi, please, for the love of God, leave me alone!"

Next to their desks, they heard Fin's low chuckle. Even Amanda was trying to hide her own smile behind her laptop. If Nick wasn't with Olivia in her office, he probably would've done something along the same lines.

"She was just worried," Sonny continued to reuse his excuse for his insistence of her whereabouts.

Montserrat let her hands drop to her desk. "Believe me, I know how Kara is. You don't have to follow her game."

"I'm only trying to help-"

"-I know," and Montserrat thought it was pretty clear that she found it incredibly annoying. "And you know what, I was going to have lunch with Casey who encouraged me to invite co-workers but now you're not allowed." Her wagging index finger at him was the first thing Olivia, Nick and Rafael saw as they emerged from Olivia's office.

That and Sonny's big scowl.

"What do you mean I'm not allowed?" the lanky man repeated with laced offence.

"Just what I said, Carisi," Montserrat pulled her coat from her chair to put on.

"Uh, what's going on?" Olivia's question was directed more towards Fin and Amanda since it was obvious they were both enjoying a show.

"Carisi's being annoying and Novak is close to popping," Fin's answer earned himself similar glares from the two detectives in question.

"I am not ready to pop," Montserrat spat.

"Kinda looks like it…" Amanda's input only further annoyed Montserrat.

"You know what-"

"- _okay_ ," Olivia started with her hand motion that Montserrat had come to learn was the beginning of the woman's attempt to calm everyone down. Olivia Benson was the mother hen type of woman. "Let's just calm down. We're in the middle of a case, remember? We need everyone to be working together if we want to catch the guy."

Beside her, Rafael was observing the group meant to collect all the evidence he would need later on. "This scene looks promising for success," his comment made Olivia sent him a sharp look. Here she was trying to calm things down and there he was poking holes.

"Sergeant, I'm really only trying to help," Sonny said before Montserrat loudly scoffed.

"You're in my business. And frankly, I don't know you that way yet. I don't know anyone here enough to talk about what I do after work."

"Is that what we're arguing about?" Rafael rolled his eyes. "This one's easy: Carisi, you're wrong. What she does after hours is none of our concern."

"Thank you! See? That's why I like him," Montserrat's moment of triumph was cut short because Rafael was not finished.

"And Novak, you're right, we don't know you enough to even  _care_ what you do after work. Leave that at home. When you're here, you're here to  _work_."

Olivia inwardly sighed but kept silent. It was brutal, but effective in clearing the air. Both detectives in question mellowed out.

"I'm taking my lunch," Montserrat made her final comment before pulling her bag over her shoulder and turning to leave.

"Guys, c'mon," Olivia motioned the remaining detectives to get on with their business. "We still need to talk find the Oswell girl and maybe re-canvassing the crime scene for that murder weapon wouldn't come by as bad. We need this done before the day's gone."

"Can we do the former while having lunch?" Finn asked but was already reaching for his desk phone to make the call to their trusty Chinese restaurant.

"Have I ever mentioned how much this squad radiates professionalism?" Rafael's joke was met with a deadpan look from Olivia.

~ 0 ~

Montserrat repeatedly sighed as she went through Kara's texts on her phone. She only looked up once to press the elevator button. Kara was as relentless as Sonny and it was frankly annoying. She wasn't used to all this coddling for something that concerned no one but her.

Her finger hovered over Kara's number.  _God can't she just leave me alone?_  It suddenly felt like a perfect moment to visit her therapist. After all, Dr. Weslin was the only person she could really talk to about it.

She stepped inside the elevator and pushed the button for the first floor. She leaned her back against the wall and had about two seconds to take a deep breath in and out. Before the elevator door was able to slide shut, someone stuck their shoe in.

Rafael smiled as soon as he could at Montserrat. "Detective," he greeted and walked in. Montserrat said something and merely looked to the side. He pressed the first floor button then stepped back beside her.

Not a second later did Montserrat's phone start buzzing. Kara's name flashed across her screen. Very swiftly, Montserrat slid the ignore option and turned the screen to black. Though she tried - and she really did - to stay quiet, she just couldn't.

"I  _do_ my work," she said, putting in her best effort to not sound defensive. "I know how to be professional."

"Okay," Rafael shrugged and said nothing more.

Montserrat shifted in her spot, keeping her gaze on the closed doors. "I  _do_."

"Alright."

Montserrat had no idea what was driving her, but whatever it was it made her mouth keep going. "...I  _am_ professional, alright? And just so you know, I wasn't doing anything bad-"

Rafael chuckled and side-glanced her. "Why are you telling me?" his amusement made her feel even more out of place.

"I don't know," she huffed and looked away.

The elevator doors pinged as they slid open. Rafael motioned Montserrat to go out first, and despite her huff, she headed out.

"Detective?"

Montserrat stopped and turned back. "Yes?"

"In my experience, Carisi can be exceptionally persistent - which in this line of work is a good thing - but he usually means well."

"I...know that," Montserrat sighed. It only took her a week to know that every member of SVU was a good person. "But there are some things about my life that I don't want to share. Simple as that."

"I understand. I wouldn't want anyone prying into my life," Rafael stuffed his hands into his pants' pockets. "I don't need explanations, Novak. I just need you to work like the rest."

Montserrat nodded her head. "I will. Now if you'll excuse me, I have lunch pending with my cousin. You might know her." She caught a brief glimpse of his smile before continuing on her way out.

"I do, and I should warn you she's stuck in a hostage situation," Rafael's revelation made her stop once again. "Making plea deals is kind of her afternoon today."

"Great," Montserrat rolled her eyes.

Now it was Rafael's turn to shift, and he didn't even know why. He didn't exactly have plans - it was actually one of the rare slow days ADAs could only dream of - and he did know of Casey's plans. There was also the fact Montserrat was still new to the city and the squad.  _Why am I making so many reasons_?

"I know a good place, if you're interested?" he pulled one hand from his pockets and hesitated towards the entrance doors of the building. Montserrat's questionable look was understandable. "Don't want you to fall back on that self confidence issue we talked about two weeks ago."

Montserrat involuntarily smiled. "I will not because as we established I am a badass. And what kind of place you have in mind?"

"Ironically, Italian."

"Oh my God," Montserrat languidly turned for the doors.

"He follows," Rafael sarcastically said as walked towards the doors.

"I'm not telling you where I went," Montserrat warned him, but it didn't seem to do much to him.

"Wasn't gonna ask," he smiled.

~ 0 ~

Montserrat's phone continued buzzing even as she focused on the delicious Alfredo sauce of her pasta. With a groan she reached for her phone in her bag and pulled it out to once again see Kara's name on her screen.

"Here's an idea - and I usually come up with good ones - but why not go ahead and answer?" Rafael put his fork down for a moment. He wouldn't say but it was rather annoying to continuously hear the phone buzz. At least his non-stop buzzing were answered on the spot.

Montserrat deadpanned him while her thumb pressed the off button of her phone. "Your sarcasm gets tiring after a while. And you said you wouldn't start like Carisi did."

"I'm not. But, just for reminder's sake, Kara's the one from the bar right?" Rafael barely hid his smile as he recalled the blonde drunk.

"She's my roommate," Montserrat nodded. "Temporary living situation while I find my own place in the city."

"Casey mentioned you had an older brother in the city…?"

"Queens. And he's got a load with his two girls. I was  _not_  going to enter that kind of world."

Rafael made a face at her. "That kind of world?" he repeated with confusion. "What do you mean?"

"The world of single parenthood, preschool, and teenagehood," Montserrat sarcastically shuddered.

"Right," Rafael agreed there and then it was probably easier to deal with that from a distance. "You didn't opt to stay with Casey?"

"No room," Montserrat picked up her fork to continue eating. "Plus, Kara's an old friend. I thought it would be fun."

"And is it?"

Montserrat's fork stopped just an inch from her mouth. He was smirking again. My god she learned to hate it but at the same time it gave her a type of thrill that she couldn't quite explain.  _Never let Kara know that_. "I plead the fifth."

"Okay," Rafael laughed lightly. Her choice of words usually made him laugh even when he didn't want to.

He learned in a short time that Detective Montserrat Novak was a woman who would go the extra mile to get evidence, to make a case work, and - often - she went an extra mile just to pull at his strings. Still, he admitted she pulled the right ones. He wasn't sure what that meant exactly - he was still trying to figure that out - but she didn't irritated in the way most people did. Even when she did manage to irritate him, it didn't last typically long. He wondered if it was just because of her unique start in SVU, and even backtracking to her first appearance in Manhattan.

"So do you just have random lunches with the squad?" Montserrat unknowingly brought him back to the present. She was back to eating and by the looks of it, she really did love the pasta. "Because I have to tell you, they have a lot of things to say about you."

A smirk came automatically to Rafael's face. "I bet they do. How bad is it?"

Montserrat shook her head at him. "Oh no, I am staying quiet. I'm new here and the last thing I want is to make enemies."

"I won't say a word," his promise seemed more or less honest. Montserrat didn't really take him for a man to care about others opinions. He wouldn't be able to work as a lawyer if he did.

Montserrat cleared her throat as she remembered the last thing she heard about him. "You're a pain in the ass, basically. And, on occasion, you're an extra type of a royal pain in the ass." She watched him carefully as he took in the comments.

"Let me guess, Fin?" he ended up responding with. He knew he guessed right when her lips stretched into a wide smile.

"Amanda thinks you get the job done but she honestly, firmly, believes that you don't like anything."

"That's not true," Rafael leaned forwards on the desk, rather serious that Montserrat believed he would be upset about Amanda's comment. "I love putting people in jail."

She laughed and made a hand gesture to the side. "Of course that's your argument."

"It's the truth," he shrugged and returned to his plate.

"I know. I've seen you, remember?" she paused then leaned forwards like he had. A devious smile came to her face. "The belt?"

He let his fork drop to his plate and garnered a deadpanning expression. " _Stop_." But even after repeating it twice he could not stop her from laughing. That was another thing he learned about her: she  _loved_  to laugh. He admitted she had a nice laugh, but sometimes it was unnecessary. Like this moment.

"Oh, I am never letting that go," Montserrat's warning was a promise and Rafael knew it. "You can thank Casey for that."

Judging by the look on his face, Rafael would've liked to do something else. Still, he let the matter go, though fully aware it wouldn't be the last time he heard about the stupid belt.

Later on when Montserrat checked her phone - more or less to dodge one of Kara's calls - she noticed she had a message from Olivia. "Oh, we may have caught a breakthrough in the case. Liv wants me back at the precinct."

"And you're going back with the intention of  _working_  right?" Rafael smirked when the woman mockingly glared at him. "I'm only checking."

"Mhm, sure," she shook her head and pulled her bag onto her lap. "Thanks for showing me this place. I only know about three places and one of them is just a cafe shop."

"You're welcome. I hope you cooled down enough to rem-- you don't have to pay," he had stopped her just as she'd taken out her wallet. She raised an eyebrow at him, as if asking if he was serious. "I got it, alright?"

"What? You can't take a woman who pays for her lunch?"

Her mild joke hadn't sat well with him. Rafael frowned and put a hand on the table, motioning her to listen well to him. "Listen, Novak, I've got no fragile ego. I've got no problem if a woman wants to pay for lunch or dinner or whatever the case is but in this situation  _I_  invited you and as they say ' _él que invita paga'_."

Montserrat's expression was a mixture of confusion and amusement, for she had no idea what just happened. "Okay. Um, could you...could you repeat that last part?"

Rafael mellowed out as she gave no indication of wanting to argue it out. "Whoever makes the invite pays," he translated. It was simple really, whoever invited someone to lunch paid. It had nothing to do with who was the man and who was the woman. Simply courtesy. "I invited you, therefore I pay."

"...sounds fair," she shrugged then noticed his surprise of how easy he'd won. "I've got no fragile ego either, Mr. Barba," she smirked. Her phone buzzed on the table, reminding her work was pending. "But I do have a boss, so…"

Rafael laughed. "Of course. And, not that I'm prying or anything…" he paused to smile, or rather it came without his permission, "Despite meeting Kara while she was drunk, I imagine if she is a childhood friend then she was honestly worried. You don't have to tell her anything - no one is owed nor entitled to anyone's secrets - but maybe a good talk might make her leave you alone."

"As long as you're not prying," Montserrat mimicked his tone before laughing. "But I will take that into consideration. Thank you." She got up from the table and was about to go but momentarily stopped beside the table. "They're wrong you know. You're not a royal pain in the ass. You're only mild one."

"That's good to know," Rafael pretended to be oh-so-relieved over the admission. She rolled her eyes and took off.

Montserrat genuinely felt a lot better when she stepped out of the restaurant. Her shoulders felt lighter and the closer she got to the precinct. On her way towards the building, she spotted the tall figure of Nick who seemed to be talking on the phone.

"Yes, Zara, I promise I will pick you up," he laughed. "No, I won't forget. Alright, goodbye sweetie."

Montserrat moved up to him when he hung up the phone. "Hey," she greeted him.

"Oh, hey, back from lunch?"

"Yeah. I didn't mean to overhear, but sounds like you've got plans tonight," Montserrat shot him a teasing smile.

"Oh, no! I was talking to my daughter, Zara. She's coming into the city and she was afraid I would forget to pick her up," Nick laughed. As if he would ever forget his daughter.

"My bad," Montserrat made a face. She thanked him when he opened the door for her then walked right in. "I didn't know anyone in the squad had kids."

"Uh, yeah - well, it's just me and Fin but Fin's son is an adult and Zara's only eight."

"I didn't know that," Montserrat became pensive while they waited for the elevator. She actually didn't know much about her co-workers. She didn't expect to know every last detail about them since it'd only been two weeks since she started at SVU but she supposed she hadn't exactly made a move to actually get to know anyone.

It seemed like Nick picked up on where her thoughts were. He was knowingly smiling at her as they walked into the elevator. "You could ask questions, you know. We don't bite."

"But I bet someone thinks I will," Montserrat's guilty carried into the station with her. She walked up to her desk and dropped her purse over it. As she began to shake off her coat, someone cleared their throat behind her.

"Novak, I would like to wave my white flag," Sonny stood with a white box in his hands. Montserrat was already fairly amused with the way he was shifting so she let him continue on. "Barba was right earlier…"

"Yeah, he seems to be…" Montserrat mumbled and Sonny nodded.

"What you do outside of work is none of my concern." He held the white box between them and opened the lid. "As a sign of my surrender, I brought-"

"-dessert?" Montserrat chuckled after peering into the box. "What are those?"

The question might have seemed like blasphemy for Sonny. "What!?" he almost shrieked, further amusing her. "You don't know what cannoli are!? Montserrat Irene Novak-"

"-when did you learn my middle name?" frowned Montserrat but Sonny was far too gone to listen.

"You need to sit down and try one right now! I can't have you walking in the city without knowing what a cannoli tastes like!"

Montserrat knew everything would be alright between them after that, even more so when she decided cannolis were  _delicious_.

~0~

Kara shifted on the couch when she heard the apartment doorknob turning. She forced her gaze onto the television where she had Netflix turned on. From the corner of her eyes she saw Montserrat walking in holding a bag in one hand. Montserrat pulled her coat off and left it draped over a kitchen chair.

The ginger woman cleared her throat as she turned to Kara. "Hey...can we talk?"

Despite really wanting to say 'yes' a sour scoff came through Kara's lips. "Dunno, you gonna ignore my last twenty calls?"

"Seventeen," Montserrat blurted the accurate amount, soon receiving a glare from Kara. "Sorry."

Kara pulled her legs onto the couch and draped her blanket over her. "You can watch the Office with me."

Montserrat took that as a green light for talk. She came to the couch, put the white bag over the coffee table and sat down next to her roommate. She briefly watched the television before she started off with her excuse. "I'm sorry, Kara. I overreacted last night and I continued to be an extraordinary bitch all day today."

Kara reached for the control on the coffee table and paused the show. She glanced at Montserrat and saw the ginger looked genuinely sorry. "Montse, I didn't mean to bombard you. I just got worried."

"I know," Montserrat nodded.

"You've been doing this a lot lately. You just go somewhere and you don't say what it is that you're doing."

Montserrat nodded again, acknowledging that perhaps wasn't the best way to do things. "Kara, I can't tell you where I go. It's...it's  _my_  thing, alright? I'm not - I'm not ready."

"Is it something bad?" Kara set a hand on Montserrat's arm. Whatever Montserrat was off doing didn't look to be easy for her. "I know you're seeing a therapist...is it that?" She was fully aware that Montserrat had been seeing a therapist for some time now but Kara never asked what it was about. It wasn't her business, after all.

Montserrat fiddled with her fingers on her lap. There was a clear strain on her face. "No, um…" even her voice had gone quiet, to a whisper, "It's just something that I have to do - that I want to do."

"Okay," Kara nodded. She comfortingly rubbed her hand on Montserrat's arm. "I won't ask again. Just...give me a heads up so I know that you're okay. I mean, you're a Detective for God's sake. You know how many crazies would want to go at you?"

Montserrat quietly chuckled. "Yeah, I can do that."

"Thank you," Kara threw her arms around her roommate and grinned. "See how easy things can be when you sit down and talk to me?"

Montserrat wriggled in Kara's tight hold. "Yeah, yeah, I was a bitch, I know."

"An extraordinary bitch," Kara laughed and sat back in her spot. "I'm surprised you change minds in one day. Usually when you get into one of your moods, it's a minimum three day streak."

Montserrat playfully rolled her eyes to the side. "I had some help."

"God bless them and their talent," Kara noticed the white bag on the coffee table. "Ooooh, what's that? Peace offering?"

"Yeah, but they're not mine," Montserrat watched as Kara pulled out the white box from the bag, opening its lid to see leftover cannolis inside. Kara didn't even hesitate to pick up one pastry and bite into it. "See, I was a bitch to everyone today, more so Sonny since he kept asking me about last night."

"So he bought these for you?" Kara's words were muffled due to her chewing. When Montserrat nodded to confirm, Kara groaned and tilted her head back. "God that guy's a complete package."

"You don't even know him!"

"Honey, with the face that man has I don't need to know him," Kara made a pass with her free hand. She went inside the bag to pull out a napkin for herself.

Montserrat took another cannoli and looked around for the remote control. "Two weeks ago you were hounding me for a meet with Rafael and now you're onto my partner. Is there no stopping you?"

Kara's wide smirk was answer enough. "Don't worry, I'm a one-man type of a girl. And the Italian-" she raised her half eaten cannoli, "-wins. Besides, the lawyer met me while I was drunk. I was at my worst and first impressions are everything."

"Please stop," Montserrat laughed and nodded towards the television. "Let's just watch Jim screw with Dwight and forget about detectives and lawyers and everything else."

"Except the cannolis."

"Sure."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Montse's secret whereabouts will be discovered later on in the story, I promise ;)


	8. A Joker's Way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The SVU squad get their hands on a problematic case that leaves tension between certain members of the squad and ADA.

At the D.A.'s building, it was pretty much an established rule that quietness be a constant thing so that all employees could work at their best. Needless to say that a four year old girl running down a corridor, shouting for her aunt, wasn't the best way to get work done.

"Aunt Montse! Aunt Montse!" the brunette girl ran straight into Detective Novak's arms. Her big, blue eyes sparkled with excitement.

"Hey, Ivana!" Montserrat chuckled as she spun her niece around in a hug. "How's my favorite niece doing?"

Ivana Novak was eager to show a smile for her aunt. "I helped aunt Casey clean her office!"

"Clean her office?" Montserrat repeated with less enthusiasm and more suspicion. She glanced to see the ADA herself while she was closing her office door.

Ivana nodded her head. "I did a good job!"

Casey turned to meet the two with a less than happy expression. "You're late," she practically spat at her cousin. She didn't even wait to hear what Montserrat had to say and just started heading for the entrance doors.

"Hey! Nice to see you too!" Montserrat called and went after Casey, though holding Ivana like she was an infant made her slower.

"Stop yelling," Casey hissed. "And put her down. She's four!"

"And a half!" Ivana reminded with a chuckle.

Montserrat knew Casey also had a soft spot for Ivana so she didn't understand why Casey was being so...extra lawyer rude. The Novaks weren't known for their big families. Ivana and her older sister were but the few third generation Novaks in the city.

"Hey, I got here as fast as I could. I do have a job," Montserrat's reminder didn't help her.

Casey whirled around, nearly bumping into her and Ivana. "You were supposed to be here fifteen minutes ago. I have court today!"

"I'm sorry-"

"-Gael said you would be here on time that's why I told him I could pick her up," Casey briefly looked at the four year old who was watching both women's expressions.

"I'm sorry," Montserrat was also aware Ivana was watching them. The last thing they wanted was for the girl to tell her father all about her aunts arguing in front of her. "I had to talk to Liv first and there was traffic."

Casey of course knew Montserrat wouldn't purposely make her late for court, but it didn't mean it was less annoying. "Gael needs to hire a babysitter. Full time."

"I don't want a babysitter," Ivana frowned. "Jules says they'll be mean."

"Your sister lies," Casey bluntly revealed to her. Montserrat disapprovingly shook her head but that didn't stop Casey from continuing. "Next time she says that, tell her aunt Casey will put her in jail for lying."

"Oh, Casey!" Montserrat had to draw the line but Casey just smiled while Ivana giggled behind her hand.

"I really gotta go," the ADA soon reminded them. "Tell Gael I'll talk to him later."

"Bye aunt Casey!" Ivana waved with her hand that wasn't looped around Montserrat's neck. "Next time I come I can show you my drawings right?"

Casey's thin eyebrows shot upwards while a tight smile spread across her face. "Sure thing."

"You are awful," Montserrat notified the woman before she left.

Ivana waved Casey until she'd left through the doors. "Are you going to babysit?" she scrunched her face at Montserrat. "Because I don't need a babysitter."

Montserrat laughed quietly. "Right. I forgot you were thirteen, as New York law states only then can a child stay at home on their own."

Ivana tilted her head at at her aunt. "What?"

"C'mon, grandpa will be watching you."

Ivana beamed and clapped her hands. "Grandpa!? I'll show him all my drawings I made at school!"

"Yeah, I bet he'll be a lot nicer than your aunt Casey was," Montserrat knew her father was a sucker for children. It was why he catered to his only two granddaughters like there was no tomorrow.

"Novak!" Rafael's call stopped her just as she'd opened the building's door. "I didn't know you were here but Olivia called..." He was coming towards her in a hasty stride but trailed off when Montserrat turned around and he saw Ivana still clinging to her. "Oh look, a child." Montserrat playfully rolled her eyes at him. "Why are you holding a child?" Rafael saw no parent around and he would remember if a co-worker had a daughter.

"Because said child is my niece and why do you call her 'child' like that?" Montserrat asked with bemusement. "Her name's Ivana and she's my niece. Ivana, say hello to my friend, Rafael."

Ivana wiggled her fingers at him and dutifully greeted him. "Hi! You dress funny like aunt Casey."

"Shhhh…" Montserrat gently lowered Ivana's head to rest on her shoulder. Rafael's lips stretched into an amused smile at the little girl. Montserrat awkwardly cleared her throat and of course excused her niece. "She thinks formal dressing is funny. Four year olds, what can we do. Is there something you needed?"

"Uh, yeah, for everyone to  _work_ ," Rafael's expression told her this should've been obvious to her. Still, he figured she had something else to do at the moment.

"You're a workaholic, and I say that with care," Montserrat sarcastically said. "I'll be back later after I drop this one off."

"My name is Ivana," the girl in question purposely pronounced her name in a slow manner.

"Looks like someone else isn't amused by your sarcasm," Rafael smiled at Ivana who looked dead serious in her correction.

"Yeah, yeah, form a team why don't you," Montserrat rolled her eyes. "I have to go. Olivia was understanding and kind enough to give me some time off."

"Is everything alright?" Rafael found himself asking when she turned for the door. Since she had Ivana still clinging onto her, he moved forwards and opened the door for her.

"Yes, yes, my brother's babysitter just quit on him and he couldn't pick Ivana up from preschool," Montserrat finally put Ivana down after stepping out of the building. It was a windy day and she didn't want to trip with her niece on account of some hair strands getting in her face.

"I go to school in the morning and then Caitlin picks me up. And today I wrote my Daddy a letter with pictures that I drew - you wanna see?" Ivana proudly said, her hands reaching for her backpack's straps over her shoulders.

Despite knowing how the four year girl's drawings must look, Rafael still gave her a surprised reaction. "I'm betting they're great and your dad's going to love them, but I have to go."

"Where?" frowned Ivana.

"My work just called me so next time, okay?" he looked down at Ivana and offered his best smile for her. "You could even give them to your aunt Montse - or Casey - since I work with both of them."

"Ivana, next time," Montserrat tugged on the girl's hand, shooting Rafael a thankful smile. She didn't think him to have much patience with kids after seeing him in court a couple times. Even when he was at the precinct he showed very little patience with the squad.

"Okay," Ivana sighed like any four year old would when she didn't get her way.

Montserrat turned Ivana for the street, holding onto the girl's hand tightly. "I'll see you and the squad later."

Rafael nodded and let her go. He watched as she took Ivana down the stairs while the little girl rambled on no doubt about that letter with drawings. A smile came back to his face without thinking.

~0~

"Grandpa!" Ivana's shouts filled her living room the moment Montserrat had opened the door of her brother's apartment.

A tall, ginger-haired man took Ivana into his arms. Thomas Novak was always happy to see one of his grandaughters. "My girl!"

"Aunt Montse said you were going to babysit me today!" Ivana planted a kiss on her grandfather's cheek.

"She told the truth," Thomas smiled at his daughter. He straightened up on his feet and hugged Montserrat. "Hi sweetheart."

"Hi, Dad," Montserrat smiled and hugged her father back. Ivana rushed towards the sofa to get her backpack and sweater off.

"It's been a long time, Montse," Thomas pulled away from her daughter and gave her a knowing look. Montserrat did her best to just smile awkwardly and keep it all under the ruse of work getting in the way. "It's been almost a year, Montserrat," his voice turned sharp just like it usually would whenever Montserrat or her brother would be getting in trouble.

"You know my line of work is a very busy one," Montserrat shrugged casually.

"Grandpa! Look!" Ivana had returned holding a paper over her head. "I wrote a letter for my Daddy! Do you want to see it?"

Thomas bent down in front of the girl. "Grandpa will see everything you did today at school, but first let me talk to your aunt Montse. Why don't you go wash your hands so we can have lunch, okay?"

Ivana nodded her head and ran back to the living room to leave her letter then headed for the hallway.

"Dad, I can't stay to talk much. My boss only gave me some time to make the drive to and back," Montserrat started making her way for the door but she knew she'd been crazy to think her father would let her leave so easily.

As a single parent, Thomas Novak had to develop a strict parenting dynamic to take care of his two kids back then. Despite them now being adults, it seemed like he still had to hang onto that tactic. "Montserrat, you've moved three times in this year. What was that all about?"

"Just...wanted a new change," Montserrat shrugged once again.

"You left your job in Queens - that was a great job, wasn't it?" Something twisted in Montserrat's face. Thomas picked up on it in that instant. It was as if disgust couldn't fill her eyes fast enough. "Wasn't it?" he asked again, but Montserrat only shrugged. "Montserrat, you'll have to do more than just shrug. I am asking you questions-"

"-Dad, I just wanted a change! I'm 29 going on 30 soon. It's just a midlife crisis," Montserrat laughed on purpose to throw her father off.

It seemed to work because Thomas laughed afterwards. "Sweetie, that happens when you're forty."

"The '2' will change into a '3'. It hits  _now_ ," Montserrat pointed an index finger down. She soon garnered a smile and shook her head. "Dad, seriously, I just wanted to change jobs. I liked SVU before and now that I'm actually working there...I do like it."

"Where are you living now?"

"With Kara Mackie. You remember her, right?"

"Yeah, her brother was the one with the massive hair, right?"

Montserrat laughed. "Damian had nice hair."

"Too long if you asked me," huffed her father, but Montserrat shook her head.

"Dad!"

"Fine, fine. But Kara...you alright there? I'm sure Gael wouldn't mind giving you a space here. Or I could even help you-"

"Dad," Montserrat put her hands on her father's shoulders, looking him in his dark eyes, "Gael has no rooms here and we're not going to even discuss putting Ivana and Jules in the same bedroom - they'd both end up dead before the night - and you don't have another room. Plus, Kara's in Manhattan and it's a lot easier to get to work from there."

Thomas could agree with that logic. Still, it didn't mean he liked it. "I've never had you so far away."

"C'mon, Dad. Manhattan is like right next door…" Montserrat trailed off when her father gave her a look. "Alright, but it's not far, really. I like living with Kara and I'm still searching for a place of my own anyways."

"I don't like having my only daughter out in the next city!"

"Oh but I bet you wouldn't be putting up all this if it was Gael," Montserrat playfully crossed her arms.

"You're my little girl-"

"-I'm 29!"

Thomas put his hands up in defeat, but he still added a minute later, "You can be fifty and still be my little girl."

Montserrat laughed lightly. "Alright, Dad, I gotta go. My boss is incredibly understanding but I'm still new so I don't want to push it."

"I'll be stopping by, don't you think I'm gonna leave you unsupervised," Thomas' warning didn't surprise Montserrat. She just nodded and told him he was welcomed any time (with a proper heads up).

~ 0 ~

"Hey, where've you been?" Fin asked when Montserrat returned to SVU later in the day.

"Dropping off my niece back in Queens," Montserrat pulled her coat off and draped it on the back of her desk chair.

"So your niece - which goes to a school in Queens - was brought here and then you brought her back home...in Queens?" Nick swayed his head as he thought about all the travelling that was entailed.

Montserrat playfully rolled her eyes at him. "My brother's babysitter quit this morning without a decent amount of notice. Casey was already in Queens so she just brought her to the DAs until my Dad could get out of work and take care of her."

"Your sister-in-law couldn't take care of her?" Fin question made Montserrat sigh.

"She died last year," Montserrat noticed the guilt that immediately filled the two detectives. "Oh, I didn't mean that as something to make you feel bad. Laurel was in accident and...my brother's trying his best but raising two girls on his own isn't easy."

"I can get that," Nick gave a light shrug, now instigating Montserrat to question him with a look. "I'm divorced. Zara comes to visit me on weekends and sometimes weekdays but even then...being on my own, it's difficult."

"I try to help where I can so I just took Ivana home," Montserrat looked around for Sonny and Amanda but she only noticed Olivia speaking with a young woman in the interview room. "Did I miss something? I thought we'd interviewed the witnesses from the flower shop already…?"

"Oh no, that's a done deal," Fin exchanged smirks with Nick. "Barba had a Christmas day with that case."

"A first solid case, that's grounds for celebration," Montserrat agreed.

"Unfortunately this  _is_ SVU and we don't ever get to celebrate," Nick said, moving onto the new case at hand. "Liv's already got Carisi and Rollins questioning the guys."

"So we already have the statement?" Montserrat took a seat at her desk and wiggled her fingers for the information she needed to learn the new details of the case.

"Olivia's just making sure Renée knows what we're going to do next."

As it turned out, Renée's case was complicated from the very origin point of the attacker. When Renée was gone, the remaining detectives along started researching on the man Renée blamed her assault on.

"This guy is disgusting," Montserrat crinkled her nose after only watching a video of Josh Galloway for a minute. "Josh Galloway actually makes a living off telling rape jokes?" Her stomach churned as she thought to the beginning of the year. This man was rich because he decided to make fun of one of the most horrendous acts humans can do?

"According to many - and I mean _many_ \- magazines, he's one of the top comedians," Nick had decided to make his own research away from videos and just stuck to articles online.

"Society is screwed up," Montserrat decided Nick had the right idea and closed her laptop for the moment. "And that man, yeah, I despise him."

"Renée claims that if it wasn't for this guy, the two guys who assaulted never would have acted," Fin looked back at the notes Olivia left for them. "She says he actually egged them on after she made a disruption to protest."

"Can we lock him up? Please tell me we can lock him up," Montserrat's wishes were heard by the Sergeant who was coming out of her office looking none too pleased.

"According to Barba, that can't happen because of the first amendment," she slipped her phone into her pants pocket.

"I revoke my like," Montserrat walked back to her desk.

"There's nothing we can do?" Nick asked, sounding a bit doubtful that this was the ending of Renée's case.

Olivia swayed her head while she considered the options. "Maybe we can decide that after we talk to Galloway himself."

Olivia Benson was never one to waste time. She took Fin with her to visit Josh Galloway and at least warn him he was on SVU's watch.

~0~

"Hey, fancy meeting you here," Kara laughed as Montserrat crossed the doors of her salon. Montserrat looked around and saw Kara was just cleaning up after a day's work. "Looking for a trim?" Kara grabbed scissors from a table and zipped in the air.

Montserrat grabbed both ends of her hair and took a step backwards. "Not tonight I don't."

"I bet you'd look hot with a haircut…"

"Are you saying I don't look hot right now?"

Kara smirked and put the scissors down. "Alright, alright. Give me a second so I can finish. I didn't expect you to stop by."

"I wasn't," Montserrat admitted, stuffing her hands inside her pockets. "It's just there's this guy we're keeping an eye on and my Sergeant got the idea to actually go watch one of his shows. And I said no, so I'm here."

"She just let you go?"

"She's cool like that."

Kara chuckled. She hadn't met Olivia, or really anyone else besides Sonny and Rafael (if a drunken moment even qualified) but she had heard various things about each member. "So who's your guy?"

"Some comedian, Josh Galloway, who makes rape jokes for a living. We think him and his act from two days ago is responsible for a girl being assaulted by two of his fans."

Kara stopped to show her disgusted face. "Ugh. I hate that guy."

Montserrat paused and stared at her roommate. "How do  _you_  know him?"

"He's been on talk shows and he's one of society's most eligible bachelors."

"You have got to be kidding me," Montserrat actually felt sick. How could this man ever be considered something else than a prude and a vile creature.

"Wish I was," Kara passed the ginger to put away a couple of hair sprays inside a cabinet piece. "But even then, can an comedian be held responsible for how an audience responds to his material?"

Montserrat hated the question because it was the same reason why Rafael wasn't helping them at the moment. She knew it rang a truth that no one could deny but it was just something Josh was using to keep his act alive. "He's using his right of free speech to egg these people on. He has to be stopped."

"It's not like I don't know that," Kara sarcastically said while dumping a couple hair brushes into a plastic bin. "But won't that be tricky?"

"So tricky that our ADA practically laughed in my Sergeant's face when she told him they were going to one of Josh's shows."

Kara had her own mini-laugh at the thought of that. "Yeah, he does the seem the type…"

Montserrat shrugged. Olivia had been kind enough to give the detectives the option of coming along to see Josh's show. Montserrat felt her stomach churn just at the thought of stepping into a place that condoned jokes like Josh's.

"You want to have dinner out today? A customer recommended it today," Kara went straight for the counter to collect her belongings. "It's a little French restaurant with a dessert menu consisting of brownies."

"You had me at brownies," Montserrat nodded for the doors in a hurry.

Kara laughed. She knew Montserrat would agree just by hearing the name of her favorite dessert. "Alright, Montse. Let me take you out tonight."

"Taking me on a date?" Montserrat put a hand over her chest, dramatically happy.

"Platonic. Sorry honey, you're not my type," Kara swung her keys around her index finger. "You need to be five inches taller, Italian, a man, and have a cute little accent."

Montserrat let her head hang in shame on behalf of her roommate when she figured Kara meant Sonny. "Please leave my co-worker alone."

"It's free game until he says no," Kara passed her with a triumphant smirk. She pushed her blonde hair behind her shoulders and adjusted her red coat. She pushed open the doors of the salon and turned to Montserrat, nodding her to go already. "C'mon. My treat."

Montserrat never turned down free food, especially when there were brownies involved.

~0~

At least the visit to Galloway's show hadn't been a waste. A young woman, Carly, had stepped forwards with an accusation against Josh Galloway himself. Unfortunately, even with the preliminary evidence - while awaiting for co conclusive evidence - there still wasn't enough to start a real case.

"Nick, any luck on tracking those gift bags?" Olivia stopped by the Detective's desk while he was conducted a search on his computer.

"Well, it'd be a lot easier if we had his business records," Nick's sourness was shared by the rest of the detectives.

"Why is Barba seriously being this difficult?" Montserrat could've answered her own question but Amanda spoke up first.

"Get used to it," the blonde detective gave a brief smile before returning to her work.

Montserrat made a tilt of her head upon finding something that could potentially be useful for them. "Listen, out of the 120 bookings Josh had in the last year, he only cancelled one," her eyes squinted a bit as she skimmed along her screen. "It was in Albany. Now, the student union guy was pissed off, said that the police held him up at his previous gig in New Paltz."

Interested, Olivia moved to stand behind Montserrat's chair and leaned forwards to see the screen herself. "Okay, the new paltz P.D."

"It only confirms that they questioned Galloway about an accusation but that D.A. didn't press charges either," Montserrat shook her head. "So is everyone afraid of this guy?"

"It says the girl recanted," Olivia straightened on her feet and pointed at Montserrat then Sonny. "Go find out why."

~0~

Sonny and Montserrat followed their only lead to a young woman's small apartment. Even at first glance, the girl seemed troubled and it became even more so when she learned she was meeting two detectives.

"I shouldn't be talking to you," she said despite letting them into her apartment.

"Was that part of your deal for the diamond watch, Audrey?" Sonny's question visibly made the woman pause on her way into the hallway.

"Josh was just being nice."

"When he raped you?" Montserrat blurted and immediately regretted it. It was completely inappropriate and plain unsympathetic. "I'm sorry," she apologized to the woman after a minute. "What happened, Audrey?"

Audrey hugged herself and seemed to have trouble keeping her eyes on the detectives' level. "I was drunk. It was just rougher than I'm used to. Everybody likes it differently, I guess. I think he thought it was normal."

"Because he gave you a gift bag?"

"How did you know about that?"

Montserrat and Sonny exchanged a look between each other before Sonny answered. "You're not the first one to accuse him. Now, did you happen keep the bag?"

"I can't talk about it," Audrey turned away, though it was clear she wished she could.

Montserrat tried going in a different route to help both sides out. "There's nothing in your nondisclosure agreement about showing us what was in that bag, was there?"

Audrey considered it for a moment then shook her head. She walked towards her bedroom, leading the two inside where they watched as she scouted for the bag inside a closet. "There's, like, $4 left on the I'avonique gift card, but the rest is untouched." She held the white bag towards them, looking ashamed as she held it.

"Might be enough to get us a warrant," Sonny grinned at the thought of that break while Montserrat took the bag.

~0~

"Turns out his gift cards are cheaper by the dozen. Galloway buys them in 12 packs," Olivia laid out their newest possessions for Rafael to see over his desk.

Behind her, both Montserrat and Sonny brought out the rest of their evidence. "I'avonique pulled the serial numbers for all the purchases and we traced the ones that were used to the recipients," Sonny added.

"Okay, we know he's got his share of groupies on the road. Any of them claiming rape?" Rafael's question made the three in question deliberately hesitate to answer for the first couple seconds.

Eventually, Montserrat was the one to answer. "Most of the girls I talked to on the phone said the sex was consensual, and a few said he was aggressive, but none felt comfortable pressing charges."

"Look, even if they were...there was no outcry. There's no charges filed. No judge will admit prior bad acts. It's more prejudicial than probative." Rafael made the motion to get his desk cleared off.

Montserrat frowned and glanced at Olivia. "I'm sorry, I thought he said he wanted a pattern. Is that not what we got?"

"We do, he's a bad guy and we have a complainant," Olivia's reminder still didn't convince the ADA.

"If I go after this guy, it's no slam dunk."

"I'm sorry, I thought you were supposed to be good," Montserrat knew the moment she made the statement she'd ended up in Rafael's bad graces, but the words seemed to be in a rush to get out from her mouth. "That  _is_  your reputation."

"I'm going to pretend like I didn't hear that simply because it's not worth arguing over," yet Rafael's expression was a warning for her to keep quiet from now on. His eyes flickered to Olivia and Sonny, both seeming on alert for an actual argument. "And it's not like I don't want to help, it's the details of the case. You are asking me to take a man to trial who will be using his first amendment right as a defense, apart from the fact he has no priors; one who will definitely be using your hassle for his jokes as another part of his defense and, to top it all off, the evidence is circumstantial at best. It's an automatic _lose_."

It wasn't like he was purposely throwing away the case. Of course he wanted to help the girl - it was his job after all - but he liked being realistic. There was no point in doing something that he already knew the ending to. But it seemed like SVU still hadn't caught on yet.

Montserrat couldn't see it, so it really was out of her control when she blurted, "Right, so when the going gets tough you get going."

Rafael raised an eyebrow at her, barely clinging onto that patience he had for her simply because she was a family member of an ADA he actually liked. Still, he couldn't stop his glare at her as he rose from his chair. "You're still new Detective. You don't know what goes on-"

"-then show me," she challenged, and not at all quietly. Behind her, Olivia was debating when (and how) to cut in. "A hard case means no case at all? C'mon, even my last ADA wasn't this flakey."

"You are out of line, Novak-" Rafael started going around his desk only to have Olivia rush in. On the other side, Sonny went to keep Montserrat from meeting Rafael halfway. At Olivia's nod, he started leading Montserrat out the office doors.

"In her own fantastic manner, Montserrat has a point. This is the right thing to do," Olivia reasoned with Rafael in her usual, calm, yet stern, manner.

Rafael considered the case and all its details, and despite knowing he would need an extra bottle of aspirin (and maybe some Scotch) he gave in with a nod. "Fine. Go collect him."

"Thank you," Olivia gathered what they'd brought in and hurried out before Rafael changed his mind. As soon as she met with Montserrat and Sonny, she started her lecture Montserrat knew she deserved. "You can't do that, Montse. No matter how frustrating the case is-"

"-the case isn't what frustrated me. It was  _him_ ," the ginger woman didn't hesitate to correct. "He's supposed to be good so why isn't he acting like it?"

"Rafael was right, you've only been here for a couple weeks. You don't know how cases can go, especially when they're this problematic," Olivia kept herself calm unlike their ADA. If someone just sat down and explained to Montserrat in a calm manner then Montserrat was sure to understand. She was a practicable, reasonable and professional woman after all.

"Tell us we at least got the go for it?" Sonny's question came half in part of his own desire to get Galloway and the other half to ease the tension.

Olivia nodded and set a hand on Montserrat's shoulder. "Go get him."

~ 0 ~

"Oh, no. What happened to the pretty blonde and the badass sergeant?" Josh Galloway recognized a detective a mile away and not for good reasons.

"Cut the crap," Montserrat snapped as she and Sonny came up to the man on the sidewalk.

"Oh, feisty!" Josh put a hand just beside his lips and whispered directly to Sonny. "You know what they say about the redheads - they're the wildest under the sheets."

Montserrat gaped at his utter rudeness but Sonny reacted and immediately turned the guy around. "Josh Galloway, you're under arrest for the rape of Carly Rydell."

Josh laughed despite feeling the metal of the cuffs around his wrists. "Who?"

Montserrat whipped a picture of Carly Rydell in his face as Sonny turned him towards their car. "And just an FYI: you won't be able to shut her up with a diamond watch."

Josh still had the audacity to laugh again even when the detectives led him towards their car. The detectives figured he was getting even more excited since a couple people were already watching them with potential recording phones. "Are you talking about new paltz? Audrey, that little chuckle slut. She recanted, and so will this girl."

"Yeah, not likely," Sonny was happy to say. He waited for Montserrat to open the backdoor of the car.

"Great, you guys want a political case? Fantastic. I'm the right guy-"

"Excellent, thanks for the admission," Montserrat stepped aside and watched Sonny stuff the man into the backseat. He slammed the door shut and turned to Montserrat.

"You okay?"

Montserrat nodded, preferring to forget Galloway's words. Despite her efforts, though, it still made her shiver.

The guy  _needed_ to be put away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm baaack, so sorry for the late update! Work keeps getting in the way! Hope you guys like the new chapter! I promise there's a nice ending for this case arc.!
> 
> Also, I did update it for the first chapter but I never put in a reference for Kara Mackie so she will look like the actress Leah Pipes while Montserrat looks like Ellie Kemper!


	9. Jokester's Final Show

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Josh Galloway's trial comes to an end, putting to rest all the arguments between the team...and with it comes sweet dinner and dessert!

Dr. Weslin gave Montserrat the moment of silence she typically needed each time she arrived to her office. This time, however, she noted that she was fiddling with her fingers. She seemed to be pulling at the skin near her nails. That was one of the first signs of anxiety she had dealt with early after her rape. With months of treatment, she'd been able to get a better control of it but it seemed like this case she was dealing with was reverting her back.

"Josh Galloway makes rape jokes for a living and people actually  _go_  for it. It's disgusting and the fact that he's hiding behind an amendment just shows how weak he is in reality," Montserrat was venting without interruptions. The more she spoke, the faster her fingers pulled at her skin. "He raped this girl and he doesn't even care. He's  _so_ sure that he's gonna get off scot-free meanwhile we're over here scrambling to give our ADA any ammo he can use." When she took in a deep breath, Dr. Weslin knew it was his time to make a response.

"And this case was one that you specifically pushed for?"

"Well yes, because there was a crime committed," she shrugged. "It's what I was supposed to do."

"But you mentioned that you had a bit of disagreement-"

Montserrat scoffed. "Try multiple disagreements. Since this has gone to trial, I've been in Rafael's face for quite a while and vice versa." It made her feel ridiculous and shameful about her unprofessionalism but every time they came back from court Rafael was on a streak of 'we're going to lose' and she couldn't take it. She knew Olivia was on the same page as her due to the fact many disagreements had been between the three in general.

"Montserrat, why are you specifically pushing for this case?" Weslin's question momentarily confused Montserrat, which led the doctor to reword it. "You've had several cases already and each of them have been conflicting as is normal so why is _this_ case pushing you to have these disagreements with your co-worker? And this man, Josh Galloway, he seems to be pressing your buttons-"

"-he _is_ , because he's a rapist and he's getting away with it," Montserrat looked down at her lap and shook her head. "He might get away with it like... _he_  did."

"He did?" Dr. Weslin repeated and carefully watched Montserrat. She was aware of her fingers and her skin being pulled off.

Montserrat raised her fingers and examined them. "I...used to this before…" Weslin nodded but allowed her to continue without interruption. "Back when it was early...after my rape, I was so...out of place. I used to peel my own fingers' skin. I'm doing it again." A sad realization struck her face the moment she figured it out. "I'm doing it again and I don't even see it."

"You are now," Weslin gave her a second nod.

Montserrat tilted her head back and rubbed her forehead. "You know, I've been anxious ever since the trial started. Galloway is treating everything like a joke and he just...he reminds me of... _him_. My rapist." Even just mentioning him filled her with disgust. "He thought everything was a joke too, including what he did to me."

"Montserrat, you know there is nothing wrong with recusing yourself from this case. You have to testify?"

"No-"

"-then you don't even have to go to the trial if it still makes you uncomfortable."

"But then he wins," Montserrat gritted her teeth together. "He gets to control my life even after almost a whole year. I like my job, I do, and I don't want anything to get in the way of it."

She couldn't let that horrible act ruin the rest of her life. She had a good life at the moment, she loved where she lived and where she worked. She was beginning to get to know her co-workers and they were all turning out to be good people. That man didn't get to further ruin her life. Even if he was still somewhere out there, doing whatever the hell he wanted, he didn't get to have power over her.

No sir.

~ 0 ~

" _Josh Galloway here, live-vlogging my persecution. Today, Carly - oh, I mean, my anonymous accuser - swore under oath she came to my hotel room suite, raided my mini bar, but did not want to make it with my joystick. I just sure wish the jury got to see her a few hours earlier…"_

"I don't want to-" Carly was promptly shut down and forced to watch the remainder of the video in silence, though she knew despite the video playing the detectives' and ADA's eyes were on her and not on the screen.

Because on screen, she was pulling her shirt up for an entire crowd to see.

" _Do you know what else ends with a 'y'? Perjuryyyyy_."

Montserrat could not help herself. She slammed the laptop lid shut. She looked at the other detectives who were all wearing similar grim faces. Of course they were about to all go down due to this one video.

"I'm sorry-" Carly barely got to say before Rafael cut in in one of his usual cold tones.

"For what you said? Or for not telling us about it  _before_?"

Carly looked down at her lap. "I didn't remember being recorded. I didn't do it on purpose."

"No one thinks that," Olivia spoke up for her. "But this will make it more difficult."

"How did this video even come up? I thought the detectives said they-"

"-vetted the club-goers?" now Rafael was glaring at each and every SVU detective in his office. "Those  _were_  the rumors."

"We  _did_ ," Nick seemed to be the one - besides Montserrat - leveling his glare. They did their job just as mandated. "Someone must've taken the video and sent it to Josh."

"I'm sorry," Carly felt like it was the only thing she could say, but it didn't do much for her.

"You should be," Rafael circled her chair. "The jury will remember it when they acquit Josh." Carly looked mortified but it didn't phase him one bit.

"Why don't we get you home?" Olivia started helping the girl up and looked to Amanda and Fin. "Get her back home safely, alright?"

"But what's going to happen?" Carly looked for some answers as Amanda and Fin started walking her for the door.

"This doesn't change anything, we're still going to try our best, right?" Montserrat finished by specifically glancing at Rafael. He didn't even answer, instead only making a half shrug of an 'I don't know'.

"Could you at least look like you have faith in this?" Olivia started as soon as Carly was gone.

"Faith in what?" Rafael nearly shouted out of frustration. "That video cemented the ending of this trial. I already went for a mistrial attempt-"

"-you did what!?"

"Don't worry, it was denied."

"Is there anything else we can do to mend this error?" Sonny's attempt was as futile as Olivia's words of encouragement.

"You want to redeem the case? Good luck," Rafael sincerely wished them. "Calhoun just told me she's calling Olivia to the stand."

The Sergeant in question blinked in surprise. "What? Me?"

"So I suggest you watch what you say. Calhoun knows exactly what she wants from you on that stand," Rafael moved back towards his desk.

"That's it?" Montserrat helplessly looked between Olivia and Sonny. "Just 'watch yourself'?"

"We all knew where this was headed." Rafael's matter-of-fact tone irritated even more.

"So then we should have, I don't know, done more for this? Instead of sitting there-" Montserrat gestured at him, "-and taking the lose."

"No I specifically said this case was not going to make it," Rafael snapped and glared at Olivia for a moment, as if silently warning her the Detective was pushing his buttons again.

"It was the right thing to do," Olivia reminded him, but even then it wasn't enough to ease the tension.

"I never should have let you convince me to take this case-"

"-we decided that it was the right thing to do-"

"This was before I had all the facts!" Rafael shot up from his seat, finally aggravated enough to shout at all of them, including the two silent detectives who'd been turning their heads each time someone spoke up. "If your detectives had done their due diligence and found that video, I never would have brought this case to trial!"

"So this our fault now?" Montserrat moved for his desk which prompted Sonny (and consequently Nick) to rush and stop her. "I thought SVU was all about being a team but you're not! You're just taking an easy way out and blaming us because you can't come up with a strategy to get the trial back on track!"

"ENOUGH!" Rafael ordered and received. He was outright enraged with such a string of insults and Montserrat didn't even look regretful.

She upheld his look for a minute before turning and storming out.  _You're an idiot. You shouldn't have done that. What were you thinking-_

"Montse?" she started hearing Sonny's call and turned around once she was in the hallway to see him and Nick coming out.

"I know that was awful-"

"-more or less," Nick shrugged.

Montserrat rubbed her forehead and tried calling herself down. "I'd go back there but I'm afraid I'll just pick up where I left off."

"Yeah, don't worry, I think Barba is pretty much in the same state," Sonny instead motioned if Montserrat wanted to start leaving. "I've never seen him go that type of red before-"

"-not helping," Montserrat took in a deep breath and hopes she would be able to hold herself together.

"I'm gonna go back…" Nick pointed to Rafael's office. "You okay?" he put a hand on Montserrat's shoulder. "We all have  _that_  type of case. And sometimes our temper gets in the way. I should know."

Montserrat didn't exactly know what he meant but she supposed he would elaborate at another time. "I think I should just go home."

Sonny turned her for the doors. Like he said, he brought her home. He did notice the 180 Montserrat did in the while it took him to drive to her place. Her rage was replaced with a guilt ridden expression. Her eyes were downcast the entire ride home, and even as they headed up the stairs of the apartment building.

When Montserrat unlocked the apartment door, she silently walked in and let her coat fall on the floor without care. She didn't really acknowledge the fact Kara was coming out of the kitchen.

"Montse, what are you doing-" Kara stopped and Montserrat went straight into the hallway. She flinched when Montserrat slammed her bedroom door shut. "What just happened?" she set her mug on the kitchen table and went to pick up Montserrat's coat off the floor.

Sonny picked it up before she got there and held it to her. "Tough case."

"Again? Can't you guys ever have something easy?" she took Montserrat's coat and draped it over a kitchen table chair.

"Unfortunately, no," Sonny stuffed his hands into his pants pockets. "She had a go with our ADA and let's just say she got him to scream."

Kara made a face. "I heard he's easy to irritate-"

"-so imagine when he meets a detective who puts his skills in question."

"Montse's not like that. This must be a case that's just getting to her. She wouldn't fight with a co-worker. I mean, she's told me how much she likes everyone at SVU," Kara felt like she needed to make sure that everyone knew Montserrat did indeed love her job. "Including that ADA. She likes Olivia's maternal side, um...that blonde detective-"

"-Amanda?"

"That one! Montserrat loves her accent - she thinks it's adorable." Kara chuckled with Sonny. "And then that tall one - he's Spanish I think?"

"Nick, yeah," Sonny gave her the nod. "Cuban."

"Right. Montserrat says he has a daughter and because he's a single Dad she just respects him a lot. Her parents haven't been together since she was five so believe me when I say she respects Nick for keeping a good interaction with his ex. And then Fin - I met him last week on a run - has all the jokes that make Montse laugh. And you…" Kara smiled, "Montse really likes you too. And your cooking."

Sonny's face went a bit red as he laughed. "You don't need to convince me of anything, Kara. We all know she likes her job, and we really like her too."

Kara nodded. "And that ADA, Montserrat likes him too. She says he's good at what he does. If she argued with him it was on the spur of the moment thing. She respects him too."

"Believe me, Kara, we know. Hopefully by tomorrow she'll be more calm," Sonny started backing up for the doors. "I gotta go though."

"Thank you for bringing her back," Kara followed him to the door. "Still keeping us safe, I see."

"My job," Sonny sheepishly smiled, referring back to the first time they met.

"I thank you for it," Kara leaned on the hinge of the door. "And I'm sure when Montse gets her shit together tomorrow, she'll thank you too."

Sonny nodded and gave her a wave before turning to leave. Kara slowly closed the door and turned towards the hallway. She headed for Montserrat's bedroom and gently knocked on the door.

"Montse? Montserrat, you wanna talk?" Kara didn't even bother with the doorknob since she was sure Montserrat had locked herself in. "Sonny said you had an argument with your ADA, what happened?"

Inside her room, Montserrat was sitting on the floor with her back to the bed's foot. She wasn't even listening to Kara's calls. It wasn't registering. All she could see and hear was that terrible day that changed her life.

_He doesn't get to win. He doesn't get to do this to me_. She closed her eyes and tilted her head against the bed. She had to believe in that or else she would never get to live.

~0~

The next day when Montserrat returned to SVU, she found most of her co-workers had yet to come in. With a sigh, she dropped her things on her desk and went to sit down. Not a minute later did she hear someone clearing their throat.

"Renée?" Montserrat noticed the young woman was looking oddly uncomfortable. Throughout the trial, Renée had been a close supporter of Carly Rydell - even if the two women didn't really like each other - so of course Renée made her appearance to the courtroom for each trial date.

"There's something you should see," Renée pulled out a USB from her bag and held it out to Montserrat.

Slowly, Montserrat took the USB and plugged it into her laptop. There was a video in it and when she opened it up, she came to see a video of Josh Galloway attempting to rape Renée. Montserrat brought a hand to her mouth and stopped the video.

"Renée…"

"Before you say anything I did this out of my own accord!" the girl pulled a chair beside Montserrat's desk. "If the other girls couldn't Josh raped couldn't come forwards then I had to. No one told me to do it. I thought about it myself." Montserrat pulled the USB from her laptop and handed it back to Renée. Renée seemed disappointed until she saw Montserrat getting up. "What are you doing?"

"I don't know, but we need to get this to our ADA  _now_ ," Montserrat nodded for the exit and of course Renée rushed to follow.

On the way to the DA's building, Montserrat notified Olivia in a text what was happening. Hopefully, it would start paving the way for a redemption from Montserrat's part.

Though it was early, Rafael was already in his office. The moment he saw Montserrat he laughed quietly, assuming she was back to continue in her crazy argument. "Should I even bother saying good morning detective?"

"I'm on business," Montserrat led Renée in, though she heard his snarky 'that'd be a first' along the way. She let it go and just stuck to the reason she came in. "Renée did something...more or less good but I don't know exactly how good."

Rafael settled a look on the nervous woman. "What did you do?"

Renée took out her USB and held it out for him. Rafael looked past her towards Montserrat, questioning the USB but the Detective nodded him to go on and take it. Like she did earlier, he stuck the USB on a laptop and found Renée's video.

Renée shifted in her seat until after he finished watching. "Like I told Detective Novak, nobody told me to do this. In fact, Sergeant Benson warned me not to try anything."

"And you should have listened," Rafael cut her off. "This was dangerous, Renée."

"I had to do something," Renée argued without hesitation. "He cannot go free without paying for what he did."

"Renée, wait outside and then I'll take you home," Montserrat motioned the girl to start getting up.

"Please don't let him get away with it," Renée pleaded as she got on her feet. "Use that video, please!"

Montserrat turned to Rafael once Renée was gone. "Can we use that?"

Rafael closed the laptop down and considered the options. "Maybe, but the judge will never let us use this. Are you sure no one told her to do this?"

"Listen, you can be mad all you want but I would never put a civilian's life at risk like this," Montserrat pressed her finger over his laptop. "This video may not be useful for this case but maybe it doesn't have to be used for _this_ case." Her suggestive smile did offer another option Rafael would be willing to take. It was easy, and best of all it guaranteed a win.

~0~

"There was a camera in her eyeglasses?" Rita Calhoun was practically offended the NYPD would sink so low at breaking obvious rules just to take out her client. She pushed shut the laptop that had the disgusting video of her client and Renée. "The NYPD give her that?"

Rafael looked up to where Olivia stood. The Sergeant had made it clear she wanted to be there when he showed Josh and Calhoun the video.

"She bought them herself," Rafael answered but Olivia added on.

"At Best Buy."

"I'm sure she did. This won't be admissible regardless," Calhoun's statement gave Josh an irritated smugness. "My client was set up while still on trial. This is NYPD entrapment."

"Renee did this on her own," Rafael met them with his own smug smile. "Neither NYPD nor I had any knowledge. And I'm not looking to use it at this trial." Calhoun barely had time to be confused when Rafael explained better. "I'll be bringing a new case with separate but equal charges. Attempted rape, sexual assault."

"Whoa, whoa, what is this?" Josh frowned. "First it was a vendetta and now it's a shakedown?"

"Josh, stop-"

"Rita-"

"Stop!" Calhoun snapped, finally succeeding in making Josh go silent. "I'm sure Mr. Barba and I can work something out."

The smirk on Rafael's promised she would get a deal alright.

~0~

"Girl got  _guts_  to go out there and get that video," Fin said decently quiet since Olivia and Rafael had Carly Rydell in Olivia's office.

"Renee could have gotten herself seriously hurt, though," Amanda reminded them all that while this was a good ending there were still some unaccounted risks that hadn't been necessary.

"At least we know Galloway is getting some punishment," Nick looked at the office door that was opening.

"And it seems like we're about to know just what he got," Sonny rubbed his hands together, making his co-workers chuckle.

Carly seemed pretty satisfied as she walked out, leading the detectives to believe the deal must have been good.

"How much time is he getting?" Montserrat didn't beat around the bush. Everyone around was curious to know the lucky number of jail time anyways.

"None," Rafael's answer was initially met with a degree of incredulity before he added on, "He'll be going on the registry for ten years."

"And the video never sees the light of day," Olivia added, looking not too pleased as well.

"What - that's it?" Amanda gawked. "So he _is_ above the law?"

"He pled guilty and he's on the registry. Fatty Arbuckle was found innocent. Barely ever worked again," Rafael reminded them. "The court of public opinion, once it turns on you…"

"So it _was_ the right thing to do," Montserrat smirked.

"Detective, I won't even bother answering that," Rafael stepped towards her desk. She got up from her chair with the actual intention of apologizing, but he didn't give her the chance. "I know you're still new but the next time you go off on me the way you did, I'll report you for unprofessional conduct. I'm sure that'll be take into consideration at the end of your probationary period. Do you understand?"

Montserrat's eyebrows raised together. The others prepared themselves for another argument - and perhaps a louder one too - but all Montserrat did was slightly smile and give a small nod.

Rafael briefly looked at the small audience they'd collected and went on his way. Montserrat turned to watch him leave and suddenly chuckled after he disappeared in the hallway. "He'll get over it," she waved him off and smiled at the rest.

"You okay?" Olivia asked while Montserrat went to take a seat again. "That was harsh and even if he does end up reporting anything, I can vouch that you were still new to the job."

Montserrat didn't seem at all perturbed with the threat. "In six months when 1PP reviews my job progress, I'm sure I'll have pissed him off countless times that he won't bother to do the paperwork for each incident."

"Alright…" it was clear that Olivia didn't know what to say about Montserrat's way of thinking, but at least she seemed to be doing better than yesterday.

"Montse?" Sonny quietly called when everyone started returning to their daily tasks. "Are you sure you're okay? Barba was intense-"

"Yes," she chuckled. "Plus, he'll get over it. I may or may not have left a little something in his office." Sonny's questionable look just made her laugh again. "Listen, Kara's been bugging me to ask you where you bought those cannolis that you gave me on my first day. She really loved them."

That made Sonny change his focus onto his favorite dessert, as well as the cute, friendly roommate.

~ 0 ~

On his way into his office, Rafael bid goodbye to his assistant for the day. He walked in, dreary of the remaining work he had left, but slowly came to a stop when he spotted a white plastic bag sitting on his desk. He looked around but of course no one but him was there. It was too late to go catch Carmen and ask her who brought it around.

He put his things down on a chair and peered inside the bag. The moment he did was he greeted with smell of food - dinner by the looks of it. There was a yellow paper taped to the top of the white box inside. He pulled it off and took it out of the bag to read the note on it. After he did, his mouth opened in a gape.

~ 0 ~

"No way, they make these with peanut butter too!?" Kara practically yelped when Sonny read off the different flavors of the dozen cannolis he and Montserrat brought to the apartment.

"Apparently they do," Montserrat eyed the specific pastry with hesitation while Kara picked it up from the box.

Kara's moan after taking a bite of the peanut butter cannoli made both Montserrat and Sonny laugh. "What? It's good!" Kara reached for a napkin on the coffee table.

"Glad you like them," Sonny closed the lid of the box (after offering Montserrat one) and set it on the table.

"Mm, I do. But you didn't have to pay for them," Kara shot Montserrat a mock glare. "I specifically sent Montse go pick some up with the promise I'd pay her back."

"He offered," Montserrat argued through her chews. She admitted the chocolate cannoli was her favorite, though perhaps it had to do with the fact she loved brownies. "I'm innocent in this."

"It was my pleasure," Sonny assured them both before they got into a disagreement.

"Still, it seems like a lot…" Kara sheepishly said.

Montserrat rolled her eyes when Sonny gave the same expression.  _Oh brother._  "Thank God," she mumbled when she heard her cell phone ring inside her bag. "Don't mind me…" she said but doubted either of them were listening. They seemed to like smiling at each other.

Sonny and Kara were forgotten the moment she saw who was calling.

"Hello?" she got up from the couch chair and walked a small distance from the living room.

"Montserrat Novak, just what do you think you're doing?" Rafael promptly demanded from the other line.

Montserrat imagined him in his office, confused out of his mind with her gift.

True to her image, Rafael was holding the note she'd left and couldn't stop rereading it. "I swear to God if you're laughing-"

"-I'm not," Montserrat was biting her lip to keep herself from laughing. "I just wanted to apologize in my own way. One of Kara's customers owns the restaurant so they did me the favor." She glanced back at Kara to see if the roommate had heard anything. Thankfully not. "You don't like it?" her soft tone made it difficult for Rafael to accuse her of something else.

Rafael looked at her note then back at the meal on his desk.

_It was my turn to pay. Hope you like French food!_

_\- Montse_

"It's just...it's a lot, Novak," he admitted it did make him just a little uncomfortable accepting her 'gift' and it wasn't because of his ego. He actually didn't understand the exact feeling he was getting.

"C'mon, Rafael. My name is Montserrat. We're not working so you don't have to keep calling me by my last name," she chuckled. "And I just sent that as part of my apology. I was a particular pain in the ass for this case and I went off on you. You have every right to report me."

Remembering his threat put Rafael in shame. He'd been set on making her remember where she stood and he'd probably said what he shouldn't have. She was, after all, still new to SVU and still learning. "I wasn't actually going to report you, Nov -- Montserrat. I just wanted you to have a reason not to argue with me again."

"Yeah, that I can't promise," Montserrat bit her lip again when a laugh threatened to slip through. "I always argue, and it seems like you're my candidate to be on the receiving end."

"Lucky me," Rafael hummed.

"You make it too easy by getting annoyed with the simplest of things."

"Excuse you, you insulted my abilities on a job I've been doing for more than ten years-"

"-and I'm sorry," Montserrat apologized slowly. "I said what I said because…" she sighed and only gave a brief explanation that would hopefully cover it. "This case just...it hit home. And I shouldn't have let it, but it did, and I said things and acted in a way I hope I never do again."

Her choice of words had confused Rafael for a moment. "It-it what? What does-"

"-don't ask questions, please," she'd gone to a whisper, furthering his suspicions. Once again she glanced back at her friends hoping they hadn't heard. "You just gotta know that I think you're a talented prosecutor. I still remember the belt."

That soon brought a smile to Rafael's face. He chuckled, actually. "Let it go, Novak."

"Not in this lifetime," she promised. "You basically asked a man to choke you with a belt on your first SVU case and you want me to let that go? Absolutely not." She smiled when he laughed, hoping it meant things would be better from here on out. "So...are we good?"

Rafael put her note down on his desk. Despite his efforts he ended up smiling. "Yes, Montserrat. Of course we are."

"Great," Montserrat beamed, perhaps more than she should have. "Enjoy your dinner. The chocolate mousse was really good by the way, but then again I really love brownies so it might stem from the fact it was just chocolate."

"There's dessert too - Montserrat!" Rafael had peered over the bag again and caught sight of a second box underneath.

"It's fine, Rafael, don't worry," she chuckled while he sighed in resignation. It's not like he could return it anyways.

"Next time it's my turn," he said without much thought and suddenly Montserrat was glad this was a phone call and not in person because her face had gone a little red.

"Whatever you want," Montserrat shrugged, making him pause in his endeavor to pull out one box of food.

He realized the context of his words and internally scolded himself for it...but maybe he wasn't so sorry about it in reality.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the delay in these updates. I was on vacation!


	10. Of All Moms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While SVU deals with a case that reminds Montserrat of a part of her childhood. However, that may cause some future trouble for her...

Montserrat had just sat down to have some breakfast when someone knocked on the door. "You have got to be kidding me," she put her fork down and glared at the door. Sonny had told her he would be coming by to pick her up for work. It was a nice gesture but Montserrat was almost sure it had to do with the fact he wanted to catch brief moments with her roommate instead.

Bitterly, she got up from her chair and went to answer it. Her momentary annoyance was forgotten when she came face to face with a tall, black haired man. However, with the black curls over the man's head it wasn't difficult to place him."Hi, Damian," Montserrat greeted Kara's older brother. "I didn't expect you to be here."

Likewise," Damian Mackie had a charming smile that only seemed to get better as the years passed by.

"Kara didn't tell you I was rooming with her for a while?" Montserrat left the door and went to retrieve her breakfast on the table. Damian walked in and closed the door for them. "I've been here for a couple months now."

"No, I think she did. I just missed it when she rambled on about other things," Damian shrugged, making Montserrat chuckle. "But you look great. I haven't seen you in a while."

"Try two years," Montserrat slipped some oatmeal into her mouth.

"Well it's kinda difficult to get ahold of one of New York's finest Detectives," Damian's dramatic bow was met with a roll of eyes. He chuckled and looked into the hallway. "Is my sister ready? We promised our parents we'd be on time."

"It's so cute they're having a little anniversary day with their kids," Montserrat smiled.

"Well you know, maybe we can catch up afterwards?" Damian casually asked.

"I'd have to check my schedule," Montserrat laughed at such an ironic line. "It's not a lie. My job really is that unpredictable."

There was another knock on the door and this time Montserrat was sure it was her partner. She held her oatmeal bowl and walked for the door despite Damian attempting to do it for her.

"Morning," Sonny stood tall and cheery. He crinkled his nose the moment he smelled oatmeal. "Who eats oatmeal these days? How old are you again?"

"29 you jerk," Montserrat frowned and turned back for the apartment.

Sonny still smiled as he walked into the apartment, but when he saw Damian he immediately got serious. "Morning."

"Uuh, morning," Damian slowly greeted back and glanced at Montserrat.

"He's my partner from work," Montserrat was hurriedly trying to finish her oatmeal. "Sonny, meet Damian. Damian, meet Sonny. Damian is Kara's older brother, my friend and yadda, yadda…"

Sonny shook his head while his partner practically devoured her oatmeal. Still, he shook Damian's hand. "Nice to meet you. Kara mentioned you. Well, she mentioned you and Montse's brother. You're both architects, right?"

"Right," Damian nodded. "We're actually working on an important company building right now."

"I know that," Montserrat swallowed the last of her oatmeal and dumped the bowl into the sink. "I've had to babysit three times in one week because you guys can't get things right."

"Not true," Damian swayed his head. "Sometimes we just wanna get drinks."

Montserrat gave a deadpanning look. "You better be lying."

Damian took one step back and called for his sister. "Hurry up, Kara! Before Montserrat shoots me!"

Kara emerged stuffing things into her purse. "Whatever you did I'm sure you deserve it."

"Oh some sister you are," Damian rolled his eyes.

Kara had a good comeback ready to go before she saw Sonny. She beamed at his presence. "Hi! Are you picking up Montse again?"

The ginger in question shook her head and narrowed her eyes at them.  _Using me as an excuse to go all googly-eyes on each other._

"Yeah, she asked me to," Sonny didn't even notice the flat out lie he said. Montserrat gaped and had half a mind to smack him. She felt one month into SVU granted her the perk of smacking a co-worker if they deserve it.

"Always so kind," Kara's big smile didn't go unnoticed by her brother.

Damian cleared his throat. "We do have parents waiting. You can do this another time."

Unlike Montserrat who thought about smacking, Kara did it. Damian groaned when his sister's hand smacked him on the chest. "I'll...be in the car…" Damian gave a wave for Montserrat and Sonny then headed out the door.

"I'll see you later," Kara very sweetly told Sonny as if they already had plans.

"Of course," Sonny stepped aside so she could walk out. Kara smiled all the way out, as did Sonny.

"Seriously?" Montserrat crossed her arms and was unamusingly looking at her partner. "You're just gonna stare at my roommate's ass right in front of me?"

"I -I was not-"

"Don't you lie to me, Dominick Carisi," Montserrat pointed at him. "And just so you know, when I use your full name it means I'm serious. And I'm serious right now."

Sonny playfully rolled his eyes. "Are you ready?"

"No! Because you keep showing up early just to meet with Kara and leave me hanging with either half of my breakfast or nothing at all!" Montserrat's exclaim was met with an amused smile. "I need to eat to survive if you've forgotten!" she made way for the living room but stopped just to point at him. "And I definitely didn't like it when you came in ten minutes after my alarm went off! What the hell even was that!?"

Sonny couldn't stop laughing. It had been honest accident that allowed him to see what Montserrat looked like in the morning. He learned that she had a much more colorful vocabulary in the early hours. "Alright, alright, what if I buy you some cannolis to make it up?"

"...turn those into almond brownies and a vanilla latte and you, my friend, have a deal."

Unfortunately, their deal wasn't made through on account of an urgent case they were both called onto. They followed the directions and sure enough came to a building swarming with officers.

"What the hell happened?" Montserrat called to Fin who was overseeing the procession.

"Little girl somehow got out on that balcony. It looks like she's stuck," Fin pointed to the higher levels of the apartment building where they could see a little girl out on a balcony, over a table. She staggered every second or so, threatening to fall over.

"Where are the parents?" Sonny scowled, outraged the little girl was left unsupervised up to that point.

"Neighbors don't know. Amaro and Rollins are with ESU trying to get inside," Fin said and pulled up his phone. "The door's barricaded."

"Is Liv here yet?" Montserrat figured their Sergeant would be inside the building trying to get into that apartment but so far they hadn't heard any communications from the inside.

"Nah, she's at Baby Boy Doe's hearing. She was on her way last I heard."

"What?" the ginger woman said in confusion. "Who?"

"Earlier case," Fin waved it off and focused on the fact two men were throwing ropes over the front of the building. It seemed like the apartment was still inaccessible.

As soon as they had the girl in safety, the remaining detectives rushed into the building. Thankfully, Olivia arrived not too long after that.

"Check it out, someone left her with everything she could possibly need," Nick pointed to the kitchen table of the girl's apartment that was covered in food, toys and movies.

"Yeah except a  _mom_ ," Montserrat mumbled as she passed him, though she was heard quite fine.

She went into the hallway to see what else they could find but it was a surprisingly clean apartment. Laundry was closed locked but the bedroom and the bathroom weren't. Opposite of her, Sonny and Fin took check of the plumbing and found that the hot water was off, as well as the stove in general.

"Girl's name is Maddie. Mother's Jenny Aschler. We haven't located her yet," Amanda was informing Olivia after the Sergeant arrived.

"How is Maddie?" Olivia peered around the blonde detective to see the young girl sniffling on the couch.

"She's scared, not hurt. She pushed a chair to the balcony door, unlocked it. Says she climbed out there to feed the birds."

"We didn't notice before but these are meals that you can eat without any preparation," Montserrat picked up a pack of crackers. She then reached for grapes that had been neatly pursed into a Ziploc bag. "And others that have already been prepared. My Dad used to do this when my brother and I were young and he had to work overtime. This mom took all the precautions."

"But she did leave her daughter unattended and locked in," Fin reminded her then looked to Amanda for a better explanation of that bit.

"Maddie says her mother left her for two sleeps," Amanda explained quietly so the girl wouldn't hear. "And she was told not to let anyone in."

"What could be so important that a mother would just leave her child like this?" Olivia sighed. Her mind was already particularly clogged with the details of the hearing she'd been in. Mothers not attending to their own children was the worst thing they could do.

"Hey Serg," Sonny came by with his phone in hand. "Found mommy." When he showed them the picture of the woman, things made less sense.

~0~

Jenny Aschler was horrified to hear what happened to her daughter - almost happened thanks to the police. Her nervous eyes flickered between Olivia and Nick. The fact they had to come to prison to talk her already didn't bode well for her.

"Is Maddie okay?"

"Now you're worried?" Nick raised an eyebrow at her, unable to believe if she was being honest or not. The woman already seemed jittery and anxious. "You knew you were on probation. Why were you shoplifting?"

"I-it was Maddie's birthday. She's always wanted one of those, uh, American girl dolls? They're $200," Jenny explained the best she could. "I mean, who has that kind of money? Where is Maddie? I wanna see her."

"She's with child protective services," Olivia saw Jenny's eyes widen even more.

"Just...just till I get out, right? I'm due out in a few hours."

"Listen, you left your six-year-old unsupervised for two days. You can't just get her back," Nick thought that would be been an obvious but Jenny was actually hopeful. "All right, you're looking at new charges here-"

"Hold on, Nick. Slow down," Olivia urges him to take it easy so that they could have a better understanding of Jenny's situation.

"You can't talk to him like that. You're gonna make him mad," Jenny quietly said to Olivia, instigating confused faces from the two.

"Look, I'm not… I'm not mad," Nick started again, and slow for her to understand. "But you left your child alone, all right? This is serious."

"Jenny, you told your public defender that you thought your husband was gonna be able to take care of Maddie," Olivia was sure that they saw that in Jenny's file. They'd even talked to the defender briefly before coming to see Jenny.

"We're separated," Jenny lowered her gaze to the metal table.

"So, what, he bailed on you? He said that he couldn't watch her?"

"I never asked him," Jenny knew how that sounded so she quickly added to explain for herself. "It's too dangerous."

"Dangerous? What do you mean?" Nick asked her.

"Gary can't be alone with Maddie. He has...needs. If I'm not there to take care of them, somebody else has to - I won't leave him alone with my daughter."

Olivia saw honest fear for Maddie and couldn't just ignore it. This was more than a neglect case. "So Gary isn't Maddie's father?"

" No. Maddie's father's in Attica."

"So Gary's Maddie's stepfather? Has he ever acted inappropriately with her? Has she said something?"

Jenny looked up from the table, her reddened eyes looking between Olivia and Nick. There was a lot tell.

~0~

Montserrat and Amanda were both amazed at what kind of men surrounded Jenny Aschler's life. Between them and Fin, they had reconstructed the connections between Jenny, Bobby Aschler and Gary Aschler.

"This woman's had a tough life," Montserrat mumbled as she pinned a photograph of Jenny at the center of their board.

"Yeah, Bobby Aschler-" Amanda looked up from her laptop to point at the indicated photograph of the man, "-is Maddie's biological father and he has a  _long_  record. The lovely ending is he's now doing a bid in Attica for cooking meth."

"This prince, he pimps Jenny out, gets her pregnant at 16, and then just turns her over to his brother Gary," Montserrat took a seat at the edge of the table. "And she has quite a long record too."

"Anything outstanding?" Olivia inquired.

"Define that," Fin leaned back on his chair. "I mean, she's been in and out of jail from multiple drug arrests which only stopped two years ago."

Olivia put her hands on her hips and gazed at the board they had set up. Despite Nick and Sonny not being back from their visit to Gary, they'd managed to pull up several pieces of information on Jenny that just didn't equal to a terrible, neglectful mother. "She sounds more like a probable domestic violence victim. I'm not sure that charging Jenny with neglect of a child is in Maddie's best interest. If Jenny does more jail time, the stepfather may ask for custody."

"Not if he's in jail too," Montserrat threw in the option they would all love.

"Yeah, but that'll only happen if we can get Jenny to testify against him."

"So...we talk to her again?" Amanda asked.

Olivia gave the nod. "If we can convince family court that she's a D.V. Victim, maybe she and Maddie can get the help they need."

~ 0 ~

Despite Jenny being released from prison, she looked no better. With her daughter ripped from her, she seemed even worse than when she was in prison. She took a seat in the interview room and anxiously watched Amanda and Nick come in. They didn't beat around the bush, they just cautiously began to interrogate her about her life at home, especially where it concerned Gary.

"Well, of course Gary never touched Maddie. I won't give him the chance," Jenny took to playing with the tips of her hair. It seemed like a nervous tick as she tugged on the tips.

"So what makes you afraid that he'll do something?" Amanda proceeded to push for more specific details. "Cause he hurts you?"

"He-he has needs, like all men."

"So what does he do to you, Jenny?" Nick's question was met with silence. He sighed and pushed again. "Look, you have to start talking to us. If you're lying to get back at Gary, you're gonna be in trouble here-"

"Stop yelling!" Jenny suddenly exclaimed, getting silence despite almost shrinking back in her chair. Her eyes quickly met Nick's and revealed momentary terror in them. "I'll be good. I promise. I'll do whatever you want."

Nick was at a loss in that moment. He was pretty sure he hadn't been shouting. Maybe he'd spoken a little louder than he had wanted but it definitely was not yelling. "Jenny, you don't have to - Hey, Jenny, nobody's yelling-"

Someone knocked against the window of the room, letting know someone had to come out. Nick knew who that would be. With a sigh, he got up from his seat and returned to Olivia's office where the rest of the team was. "Look, I wasn't even pushing her that hard-"

"It's not you," Olivia assured him no one was blaming him. "It's something else going on here."

"Care to take a wild guess?" Montserrat was leaning against the window and attentively listening into Jenny's interview.

It came as no surprise to anyone when Jenny disclosed that her husband Gary was taking advantage of her under the guise of marriage privilege.

~0~

"Jenny Aschler abandons her six-year-old, claims she's afraid her husband will abuse her kid, and now she's accusing him of raping her?" Rafael wanted to ask if there was a list somewhere that gave anything else the woman was claiming.

"No, weren't you listening?" Montserrat tapped her index finger to her ear for emphasis. "She thinks because they're married, it isn't rape."

Behind her chair, Olivia was pacing back and forth. The case was obviously more frustrating for the Sergeant and now Rafael was wondering how long it would take her to make a hole in his office. Amanda, who sat in the chair next to Montserrat, wondered the same thing.

"So she hasn't said no, she's living in fear, and you think she's gonna agree to confront this guy in court?" Rafael knew those odds and had to scoff out loud. "I'm a prosecutor. She needs a social worker."

Olivia came to a right stop at his words. "Hang on, this is more than a simple child neglect case. The only reason that Jenny left Maddie alone-"

"-for two days while she went to jail…?" Rafael finished for her though earned himself exact glares from her and Montserrat.

"Seriously, aren't you listening?" Montserrat genuinely asked again. "She only did that because she thought her daughter was unsafe with the stepfather. You have to trust a mother's instincts."

"Yeah, Fin and Amaro went and saw this guy. They say she made the right call," Amanda then added on.

Rafael swayed his head while he thought about the not-so-subtle plan the three women were clearly on. "So you want me to charge the husband with D.V., so a family court judge will give her a second chance?"

"Jenny was wrong to leave Maddie alone. There's no doubt about that, but she's also a victim," Olivia didn't think she needed to be so descriptive but if he wanted it all then she would be. "She suffers with symptoms of PTSD. The father is in Attica, and this guy should be there too."

"Seriously…" Montserrat tapped her ear again, nodding at him to go on.

Rafael playfully rolled his eyes at her. "Alright, fine. See if he's dumb enough to confess to something he doesn't realize is a crime."

"Thank you," Olivia gave the nod of gratitude and started leaving first.

"See how easy it is when you just listen," Montserrat's comment made it difficult for Amanda not to chuckle.

Rafael was not so amused. "Oh yeah, so brave when all three of you come in against me."

"Didn't think you so scared so easily, councilor," Amanda's remark then made Montserrat laugh.

As Amanda walked towards the door, Montserrat quickly leaned over the desk just to whisper, "Kind of puts the belt to shame, don't you think?"

While she laughed, Rafael glared. "Get out of my office," his command was simple and calm. Though he was straight faced, unamused, a smile wormed its way across his face when he heard her laugh echo from the hallway.

~0~

When Montserrat returned home, she was surprised to find not only her roommate, but Damian and Montserrat's older brother, Gael. Kara was sitting at the couch flipping through a magazine while the two men discussed in the kitchen.

"Uh, hi," Montserrat said slowly since none of them acknowledged the fact she'd just walked in.

Kara waved but was more focused on her magazine. "I'm trying to learn this hairstyle for the salon, shush!"

Montserrat rolled her eyes and walked towards her brother instead, leaving her things over the table. "Gael, what are you doing here? What about Ivana and Juliana?"

"Dad's with them," Gael came over and hugged his sister hello. "I didn't think I'd catch you. Kara says you don't come home until midnight sometimes."

"When she's lucky," Kara made sure to add.

"Go back to your hair, Mackie," snapped Montserrat before answering her brother. "The hours are all over the place but that's not important. What are you doing here?"

"My fault," Damian waved a hand. "We're getting back from my parent's anniversary when Gael called with a problem from work."

"Is everything alright?"

"Just the usual. Customers who aren't satisfied with our work," Gael rolled his dark eyes. "I was already in Manhattan so I thought it be easier to meet here. That a problem?"

Montserrat chuckled. "And miss the chance to make fun of my big brother? Never."

Gael shook his head. "I was done anyways. We're thinking of dropping by Casey's tomorrow to see if she can help us."

"Casey is at court most of the day. Good luck with that.."

It seemed like the men were considering her comment, leading Montserrat to conclude whatever problems they were having at work must be big. Casey was a prosecutor, after all, not there for personal problems.

"I thought your job has lawyers of their own," Montserrat commended and grabbed a coke bottle from the kitchen table without caring whose it was. As she headed for the living room, she missed Gael's glare for stealing his bottle. Montserrat sat down beside Kara and the blonde roommate immediately chucked her magazine to the side and turned to Montserrat's hair.

"Yeah but we want someone who won't mind explaining us the exact details of the problem," Gael went into the kitchen and when they heard the fridge opening, it was assumed he would be getting another coke.

"And exactly why would you think Casey wouldn't shout at your ass for being annoying?" Montserrat took a swig of her stolen coke bottle, scrunching her face when Kara pulled on her hair.

"Sorry! I'm trying the hair style!" Kara apologized and went right back to work.

"Do you think your cousin will really mind if we go talk to her?" Damian asked, his seriousness coming off as amusing to the two siblings.

"Nah," Montserrat shook her head, though Kara stopped her with hands pressed to both sides of Montserrat's head.

"See our cousin is sharp and possibly evil, but she loves a good contract," Gael returned from the kitchen with a coke bottle. "And she's family."

"She'll kill you if she ever hears you call her evil," Montserrat muttered. "And I will remind you she's a Homicide ADA so she'll know how to make it look like an accident."

Gael rolled his eyes. "It's getting late and I gotta get back to my girls."

"Yeah, you keep leaving my nieces alone," Montserrat pointed at her brother in warning. "You know I'm dealing with a case of a mother who left her daughter alone for two days."

"Hey I left my girls with a good babysitter," Gael reminded her. "I'd never leave them alone. I'm not a bad parent."

"...but Dad used to leave us alone sometimes," Montserrat's comment made him pause just as he was getting his jacket from the kitchen table.

Gael shot his sister a look, looking offended but not for him. "Don't you ever imply that our father was a bad parent."

"I'm not-" Montserrat didn't seem the least fazed even when he continued with an increasing louder voice.

"-Dad had to work sometimes and there was no one to look after us! Everyone else worked and they couldn't just leave their jobs-"

"-Gael, I know-"

"If you want to talk about a bad parent then maybe you should think about Regina instead." Gael angrily put on his jacket, ignoring the wide-eyed looks from Damian and Kara. He wasn't even going to dignify his sister with a glance. " _She's_  the bad parent for what she did to us."

With those words, he stormed out of the apartment.

"Uuh…" Kara stopped doing Montserrat's hair - which seemed more like a wild mess than anything else - and leaned back. "What just happened?"

"I made my big brother mad, story of my life," Montserrat put her coke bottle on the coffee table.

"Montse, are you okay?" Damian walked over to the couch and sat on the arm rest.

"Don't worry about it," Montserrat scoffed lightly. "I'm used to Gael's attitude when it comes to Regina." She pushed herself up from the couch, knowing she was being watched by the Mackies.

"Who's Regina?" Damian asked.

"My mother," Montserrat answered on her way into the hallway.

~ 0 ~

Olivia thought bringing Jenny to a psychiatrist would help them better in her case, but she ultimately got more than what they thought they would. The brief evaluation brought SVU to Jenny's mother - who had nothing but bad things to say about Jenny - and that then gave them view of what happened to Jenny as a child.

Now, the conference area was full of photographs of Jenny as a child that the squad was looking through. They were all pretty suggestive but nothing against the law.

"How old was she in these?" Amanda stopped when she found a particular photograph that made her want to stop altogether.

"Five, six, seven," Nick answered, since he and Fin were the ones who had returned with the photographs from Jenny's mother. "Stepfather took all of them."

"These are the photos he gave to Jenny's mother?" Montserrat gawked at how clueless the mother had to be for her not to realize what her ex-husband was doing. "Where are the ones that he kept for himself?"

"Let's find out," Olivia was already a step ahead by the time the rest of the squad finished going through the pictures.

She'd gotten ahold of a contact who came back with answers rather fast. And since those answers were rather awful, it required the presence of the entire squad and their ADA. Now they were all gazing at new pictures of Jenny they could have gone without seeing.

Agent O'Connell from the FBI was the one to expose the team to the actual, deeper truth of Jenny Aschler. "I recognized her right away," the man admitted as he switched through some of the photos they had. "We searched for her for over a decade. Called her 'Lacy unknown.'"

"Lacy is the name that the stepfather calls her in the videos," Amanda remembered. "How many videos are we talking about?"

" _Hundreds_. And thousands of stills. There's videos of her being tied up, raped, sodomized. Some of them were customized. He would take requests, posing her. She has chat rooms devoted to her."

"And so...the mother never realized that this was happening to her kid?" Montserrat couldn't think of a more clueless (or purposely blind) mother than Jenny's.

"Whether or not, we can't exactly prove it," Nick bitterly said beside her.

"We kept looking for Lacy, but after a while, we assumed there's no way she survived her childhood," O'Connell turned off the screen. "I'm shocked she's still alive. But for what it's worth, there's a couple hundred guys in prison for downloading her images."

The last bit interested Rafael most. "These videos are still being distributed even a decade later?" he asked just to confirm.

"Every day in every country in the world. A lot of pedophiles are collectors. They share clips, trade files on the darknet. As fast as we pull sites down, new ones pop up."

"One favor. Notify me when you find someone new in possession of these images."

"Of course," O'Connell agreed and started gathering his belongings to leave.

"Thank you for coming," Olivia said on his way out.

"So how do we move from here?" Sonny wondered after it was just them again. It was a tricky case since most sides were already shut by law.

"The stepfather took these videos, and he's the one in the videos raping her," Rafael moved so that he could face the entire squad. "Where is he?"

"Jerry Dobbs. He died in a car accident two years ago," Fin responded, looking bitter about it too. Jail time would've been a been a more fitting punishment than sweet death.

"I hope he suffered," Rafael muttered before switching tactics. "What about the mom?"

"Mom couldn't have been that clueless," Montserrat shook her head. "She must have known."

Olivia scoffed there. "Well, if you let her tell it, her daughter's been nothing but trouble ever since she was born."

Rafael knew where she was going with that and would not let her. "You can't make that case. Let it go."

"Let it go?" Olivia repeated, her mouth falling in open incredulity. "So nobody has to pay for what was done to Jenny?"

"There may be one avenue of recourse, if Jenny is capable of handling it," Rafael said once Olivia calmed a bit. He wasn't going to subject himself to a round of shouts.

'She's emotionally fragile. She's so traumatized, she doesn't remember this stuff. She's blocked it out-"

"Maybe if you show her these images…"

"Now hold on," Montserrat cut in once she and the rest of the team caught onto the intention. "You want us to show Jenny…" she pointed to the darkened screen behind Rafael, "... _that_?"

Before he could point out it was the only way to get Jenny some retribution, Amanda chimed in. "She  _has_  been acting out her whole life, high-risk behavior, but, you know, she has a right to know what's been triggering her."

"That's the emotional argument," Rafael pointed at her and continued on with what he'd been trying to get at for minutes now. "Legally, there's a possibility of restitution. But first Jenny has to identify herself as Lacy unknown."

"Ah, and you leave that assignment to us," Sonny's sarcasm was a shared sentiment amongst the squad.

"Who else would take it?" Rafael had good sense to take his leave. He definitely loved being a prosecutor sometimes.

The rest of the squad almost drew sticks to see who would get the assignment. In the end, Olivia made the graceful sergeant move and volunteered.

Amanda drew the smallest stick.

~0~

Days later brought no better moments for Jenny. After realizing - and accepting - she was Lacy, she was institutionalized to help her get back on her feet. Montserrat and Olivia visited Jenny when they felt Jenny would be able to have a conversation without affecting her health.

Jenny appeared better than the last time they'd seen her. Yes, she did appear to be a little jittery but it was nothing compared to the first time they met her.

"So how you doing, Jenny?" Olivia decided to start easy.

"I feel better," Jenny quickly said, as of her answer would carry the weight of whether or not she'd see her daughter again. And it probably did. "The first week, I just slept through, adjusting my meds. There's group crafts." She made a brief glance at the nearby tables in the room where several patients were immersed into small art crafts. "How's Maddie?"

"She's fine. She's in a foster home," Montserrat answered almost as fast as Jenny had. She assumed Jenny could only think about whether or not her daughter was fine. "And the doctors say you can Skype with her. We can help you set that up."

Jenny tried to smile but she ended up biting her lower lip. "I'm not gonna get her back, am I?"

"You just have to take care of yourself now so you can take care of her," Olivia said kindly, hoping that Jenny would see this was only for the best.

Still, Jenny could not find much peace. "The social worker told me medicaid won't let me stay too much longer, and Gary's so mad. He's not paying my rent."

"You're in for a fight, Jenny, but that's where this restitution money we talked about can help you," Montserrat reminded. Yes, the money's origin was not a good one but the intention of the money was.

Olivia cleared her throat before she cautiously started to explain the real reason they were visiting Jenny. "There's a sentencing hearing coming up soon. It's... it's an EMT who's convicted of possession. But you could write a victim's statement. It's a... it's a letter."

Jenny tried to follow, and she was. "A letter?" the two women nodded for her answer. Jenny considered her options, and her feelings, clearly for the first time. If she deserved some restitution then she thought she also deserved to face at least  _one_  person who had hurt her in her life. "If it's okay, I wanna go. I want him to look me in the eyes. I want him to see me."

Both Montserrat and Olivia exchanged surprised glances. Of course they would let Jenny go, they just hoped she would be strong enough to follow through.

~0~

"You can put that one over there," Amanda pointed Fin to an empty spot on the interview table.

"Nick, that one can go there," Montserrat nodded to the small space at the edge of the table, opposite of Fin.

"You know, you two could help," Sonny said as he walked into the room carrying another box of papers. He, Fin and Nick simultaneously shot Montserrat and Amanda identical glares for their lack of assistance.

"Put some muscle into it and keep bringing them in," Amanda motioned the three to go get more of the boxes.

They were bringing in the notifications of arrests from the Lacy unknown case for when Jenny would stop by. Unfortunately, there were a lot of boxes to bring in and Montserrat and Amanda took the 'supervising' job.

"Are those - are those brownies?" Fin stopped when he caught Montserrat handing a brownie to Amanda.

"We're waiting for lunch to be delivered," Montserrat shrugged.

"You're both a lot of help," Sonny put down another box on an empty chair.

"Easy there Carisi, or I won't let you into my apartment for Kara anymore," Montserrat smirked when she drew the right attention from the rest of the team. Sonny looked ready to murder her on the spot.

"What's this?" Amanda began in a teasing manner. "Does our baby face have a crush on a girl?"

"That's not - stop looking at me like that!" Sonny snapped, but it didn't help when he heard Fin laugh from behind.

"If you're all done teasing, I could use some help," Nick said since he was the only one still bringing boxes in.

"Thank you," Sonny gestured at Nick as a prime example of what professionalism looked like.

"I'm sure we can discuss this crush at lunch," Nick made the remark as Sonny headed out of the room.

"God dammit!" they then heard the cry of the lanky detective.

Almost as soon as they were finished filling the interview room with boxes, Jenny and Olivia returned from their trip to court. Despite not being able to directly ask how the sentencing had gone, they could see Jenny was looking better. Still, it came to falter when she realized what was in the interview room.

"What's all this?" she sifted through a box without actually looking into the papers.

"As part of this process, the FBI has to notify the victim of each individual arrest. And there was a long backlog of 'Lacy unknown' downloads, so, during your recovery, we had them sent here," Olivia explained and soon began to see Jenny once again shrink in her spot.

"So I have to open all of these letters and then go to court and testify every time?" Jenny gazed at all the boxes in the room and though they multiplied in that one moment.

"Most of these men have been convicted. You can file a civil suit. But where you have the most leverage, Jenny, is with men that are awaiting sentencing."

"Every time," Jenny said in disbelief. "So I'm gonna be dealing with this for the rest of my life?" she didn't need Olivia to answer to know. "I can't. I just can't do it. I just can't!"

"Jenny-"

"Thank you, but no…" Jenny couldn't help herself and rushed out of the room.

When Olivia emerged from the interview room, the face she wore expressed everything that'd gone wrong. "Well…" she came to up the closest desk which was Fin's.

"I assume she didn't like the boxes," Amanda went first.

"No," Olivia confirmed. "It's going to be hard for her accept it…"

"It would be for anyone, Liv," Fin said as a means of comfort for the sergeant. Anyone who knew Olivia would know that by now she was blaming herself even when she had no logical fault.

"Hey, we just saw Jenny and she didn't look so good," Montserrat said when she and Sonny walked into the bullpen with their carry-out.

"It's a process," Olivia left it at that.

"Well, lunch is served," Sonny put down each member's order on their desk. "Tips are accepted."

"But not required," Nick made a motion for the man to step away with his waiting hand.

Sonny rolled his eyes and returned to his desk. As Olivia went to take her order from Montserrat, she saw Rafael coming in with an unusual expression. "Hey. You're smiling, Barba. Why is that freaking me out?"

"I've seen him smile - when he  _eats_ ," Montserrat's remark earned herself various snickers from the rest of the squad, but not from the ADA.

"Sit, eat, be quiet," he pointed her back to her desk. Montserrat dutifully returned to her desk but still smirked proudly. "I came in with good news," Rafael went on to explain before she took another jab, which she seemed to enjoy doing a lot. "Jenny may have caught the first break of her life. The list that Corbett gave us with other pedophiles has a CEO on it. Roger Pierce, worth 20 million."

"How does that help Jenny?" Olivia forgone her lunch in that moment.

"I reread the violence against women act. Technically, the way the law is worded, it mandates that each offender compensates the victim for  _all_  losses. The forensics team that you put on this estimated Jenny's need for restitution at over 4 million." And that's where Rafael's smile returned, quite wide too. "I'm going after Pierce for all of it. It's called joint and several liability. He's free to chase after the rest of Jenny's victimizers to collect the money. It becomes his problem, not hers."

"We can actually do that?" Amanda asked just to make sure they weren't going to lead Jenny down a farce.

"I'm going to do it in…" Rafael checked his wrist watch, "...about an hour when you bring Roger Pierce down. Eat lunch fast, will you?"

"Wow, you're still good," Montserrat said, this time getting a smirk back from him. "Oh, so that doesn't earn me a snap?"

"Not when you say smart things," he promptly quipped with. "So, what are we eating?"

"Not steak, so don't even ask," she motioned with a finger for him to come to her desk so he could see what lunch was.

"As long as it's nothing barbecued," he playfully warned her.

The mere act raised questionable looks from the rest of the team. The detective and ADA seemed a bit too comfortable with each other as if this wasn't the first time.

What an odd sight it was.

~0~

"Hi, do you know where I can find Detective Novak?" Kara Mackie stopped Fin and Nick as they emerged from the interview room, both carrying boxes of Jenny's case.

"She should be here, helping," Fin said rather sourly though knew Montserrat wasn't the only one who was avoiding the helping of bringing Jenny's papers back to storage.

"Did you need help?" Nick asked the woman neither of them had ever seen before.

"I'm her roommate, Kara Mackie," Kara stuck a hand out to shake but remembered neither man could afford letting go of their boxes. "We just had plans tonight."

"Lucky break you have," Nick nodded towards the hallway where they could hear conversations coming closer. He left Kara with the promise that Montserrat was coming then followed Fin out with the boxes in hands.

"So that's it? We're done with Jenny's case?" Amanda was asking.

"Pierce paid all of the $4 million of the restitution so it's done," Rafael confirmed. "You can tell Jenny tomorrow when it's all in paper."

"Seriously, you're  _good_ ," Montserrat remarked with a matching impressed smile on her face.

"You still had doubts?"

Montserrat rolled her eyes, along with the others around them.

"I'm going to call Jenny right now and tell her the good news," Olivia said before making a beeline for her office. She didn't want Jenny going to sleep tonight with the idea that her life was going to remain a mess.

"Kara?" it was Sonny who noticed the blonde roommate standing near their desks.

Of course Kara broke into a big smile when she saw him. "Sonny, hi."

"That the one?" Amanda whispered to Montserrat who went 'mhm' in response.

"What are you doing here? Are you alright?" Sonny asked Kara, for a moment believing the worst.

Kara was quick to ease his thoughts. "I'm fine! I'm really fine! I-I just had plans with Montse."

"Oh…" Sonny sheepishly smiled and glanced back at his audience.

"Smooth," Montse said under her breath before moving towards her roommate.

"I'm Kara Mackie, by the way," Kara extended a hand towards Amanda.

The blonde detective smiled knowingly, eyes flickering to Sonny every second or so. "We know."

"And I'm not drunk this time so hello, properly," Kara smiled at Rafael, though a bit embarrassed from her drunken moment at the restaurant months ago.

"Nice to see you again, Kara," he nodded.

"Ready to go?" Montserrat asked Kara afterwards, already smiling. "I'm in a good mood today."

"That's new in this job," Kara blurted out, not that it mattered for Montserrat.

"We just watched him blackmail $4 million out of a stuck up, pedophilic CEO," Montserrat pointed over to Rafael.

"I did not blackmail-"

"-kind of what it looked like."

Rafael tilted his head in mild offence then glanced at Amanda and Sonny to see what they thought. Amanda made a face, indicating she was inclining towards Montserrat's claim. Sonny made a hand gesture indicating he was half and half.

"You know what, I'd like to see either of you try the same and succeed," he left things at that. That earned himself some rolling eyes.

"Relax, councilor, we're just teasing," Montserrat raised her hands to show she was done. She backed up to her desk to grab her purse and jacket. "I'll bring you some...what did I say I would bring next time it was my turn?"

"French food. You said French food," Rafael said a bit too fast.

"Of course you remembered," Montserrat swung her purse around her shoulder. "But next time you get me Chinese food." She flashed him a smirk then started heading out with Kara.

"We'll see," Rafael said but of course Montserrat knew there was no doubt he would follow through with his promise. It'd been like this for weeks now, after all. He noticed the odd stares from the others and realized what they must be thinking. "I'm going to see how Liv made that call," he decided and turned right for Olivia's office.

Montserrat walked alongside Kara towards the elevator, but she was dealing with her nosy roommate. "Kara, what do you want for dinner?"

"Uuh, whatever the hell you and the ADA are having apparently," Kara's smirk could crack her face in two.

"Don't even start," Montserrat pressed the elevator button and waited for the doors to open. "I've got a lot of material of you and Sonny, if you're going to play this game."

"But you  _are_  having meals with him?" Kara put a hand on Montserrat's arm.

"Not like that, they've just been...business lunches and dinners," Montserrat shook Kara's hand off her and tried to keep a straight face. She knew how it sounded, but honestly it'd been exactly what she said. Somehow, they'd fallen into a routine of buying lunch or dinner for each other every once in a while. It was nothing fancy, and definitely nothing promising, but just a simple...gesture.

It was just that. It really was...

"Lunches  _and_  dinners?" Kara laughed.

"We take turns paying, it's not a big deal!" Montserrat stepped into the elevator and turned around, catching sight of Kara's big smirk.

"Mhm," Kara nudged Montserrat on the side. "So how come you're blushing?"

"Shut up."

Kara's laughter filled the elevator.


	11. Rivalries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Montserrat's and Rafael's childhoods come for them both in different ways.

' _With only 12 days left until New York's mayoral election, the latest polls show state senator Alejandro Munoz still holding on to his lead. The time has come to fix our broken schools. The time has come to provide affordable housing for the hard-working people of the city. The time has come!_ '

"Ouch - Kara that hurt!" Montserrat scrunched her face after one particular strong hair pull from Kara's hands. "Are you even paying attention to what you're doing to my hair or are you watching TV?"

Kara pulled her hands from Montserrat's fiery orange hair and cheekily smiled behind Montserrat's chair. The two were in Kara's salon, before opening, and while Kara was attempting to try a new hair style using Montserrat, a lot of her attention seemed to be going towards the television up on the wall.

"I swear to God," Montserrat muttered as she decided to end this impromptu hair modeling gig by pulling out the bobby pins in her hair.

"Sorry, it's just elections are coming up and I wanna stay informed," the blonde hair stylist replied with, not even bothering to help Montserrat undo a knot on her hair. "My vote's going to Muñoz for sure. What about you?"

"Don't know, don't - OW!" Montserrat angrily glared at her reflection after feeling like she'd pulled skin off during the unknotting process.

Kara remained unfazed. "You don't know who you want for mayor?"

"Hasn't been on my radar yet but I've heard things about all parties. Can I go now?" Montserrat dropped the last bobby pin onto the salon table and turned to find Kara engulfed in her cellphone. "Nice to see the attention you give me."

Kara sarcastically rolled her eyes. "It's Damian. We were gonna get lunch but he's at your cousin's right now."

"What? Casey?"

"With Gael too," Kara put her phone in her back pocket. "Something about a client gone wrong? Issue? Not sure."

"Hm, I guess they're still having trouble. Maybe I can stop by," Montserrat said as she got up from her chair.

"What are you going to do? You're a cop not a lawyer!"

"Thanks, really. I haven't talked to Gael in weeks and I was meant to babysit his girls last week but he cancelled in a very short text," Montserrat turned to the mirror to fix her hair as best as possible. "I'll say hi to Damian for you."

"And while you're at it, remind him that he owes his little sister $20," Kara pointed in a serious, mocking, manner.

Montserrat playfully rolled her eyes. "Hair model is gone!" she announced as she swiped her purse off the table.

"But coming back!" Kara reminded because she certainly had more styles to try out and as it turned out, Montserrat had very smooth hair.

~0~

On her way towards the D.A's office, Montserrat heard the distinct voice of her partner calling her name. Montserrat paused and looked back to see Sonny speeding to catch up with her, with, due to his long legs, was done in a quick stride.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Montserrat asked him.

"Warrant," Sonny said the magic word that could answer almost everything.

"Case of Jamil?"

"We got him this time," Sonny promised then motioned Montserrat to walk ahead.

"I sure hope so cos I'd love to see the smirk get wiped off his face already," Montserrat thanked him for opening the door for her but as she was about to step in, she bumped into a man. "Sorry," she apologized dutifully.

"Oh don't worry about it, bonita," a familiar man responded with.

Montserrat stepped back, accidentally bumping into Sonny at the same time. "I know you," the redhead said within the second. "My roommate was talking about you earlier. Alex Muñoz, you want to be our mayor."

The man in question smiled the same charming smile Montserrat saw on the television. "Sounds like I got her vote. What about you?"

"I... don't know yet," Montserrat shrugged then looked up at Sonny behind her.

"Don't know either," he admitted.

"Psh, you'll vote for whoever Kara will," Montserrat waved him off, missing Sonny's face of offence when she looked back to Alex. "But I have to say I'm surprised a candidate for mayor is here…?"

"Just visiting an old friend," Alex left it brief.

"K, well, promise I'll do my research," Montserrat politely reached for the door again.

"If you need any help deciding, you can always call me," and the man surprised her with a small card. "Always happy to help a citizen, especially cuando toca ser una linda mujer."

Montserrat slowly took the card from him, eyes glued to Alex's returning smile. It was cocky no doubt even when he walked off.

"Okay, I skipped Spanish class a lot in highschool but I'm not that bad to miss the fact he just made a pass at me," Montserrat turned to face Sonny with a wide grin, close to laughing.

"You're so not voting for him," Sonny ushered her inside, instigating her full laughter.

"What? Why not? You're not actually thinking that being overprotective of your crush's roommate will score you some good grade points?" Montserrat levelled an amused glance his way, one that made him roll his eyes.

"I'm gonna go get that warrant," Sonny decided to avoid another teasing round which, thanks to Montserrat, the squad now partook in.

"Sure, sure," Montserrat waved him off and headed for Casey's office. She was only a couple feet away when the office door opened. Damian was the first to emerge, letting Montserrat notice his face expression. Whatever problem they were having didn't seem to be getting any better.

"Hey," Montserrat walked towards them, but the closer she got the better she could see Gael's grim face. "Woah, what problem have you two got?"

"None of your business," Gael snapped at the same time Damian had answered "It's just business".

Montserrat raised her eyebrows in confusion. "What the hell's your problem, Gael?"

"Seriously?" the older brother snapped again which only confused Montserrat even more. "You're asking me what's  _my_  problem after what you said about Dad?"

"Wait, you're actually mad about that?" Montserrat didn't know whether to laugh or not. It was plainly absurd. Though now she supposed it made sense why Gael cancelled her babysitting day.

"You said Dad was a bad parent-"

"-I did  _not_ say that!" Montserrat couldn't believe they were actually going to have this argument.

"Yes, you did!"

"No, I didn't!"

Damian looked back and forth between the siblings as their argument got louder and louder. He tried to cut in but it didn't work. It rarely did. And it just seemed to attract more people out from the offices.

"How could you be so insensitive towards Dad!?"

"How could you be so stupid!?" Montserrat mimicked her brother's tone without a care in the world. "This is why you didn't let me babysit the girls last week?"

"I was afraid you'd call me a bad father too," Gael promptly said, and it honestly became hard for Montserrat not to smack him right there.

"Would you quit being such a baby!? I didn't say anything about our father that wasn't true! But that doesn't mean I said he was a bad father!"

Casey flung open her office door and fixated an incredulous glare on her two cousins. "Would you two quiet it down?" her input only seemed to make things worse.

"No, I will not 'quiet it down'-" Gael mimicking Casey as well earned himself another glare from the woman, "-when my sister is being so ungrateful to our father!"

"I'M NOT!" Montserrat outright shouted, which then called forth her partner.

"Montse, what's going on?" Sonny emerged from Rafael's office, along with the ADA himself.

"The entire building can hear you," Rafael added.

Montserrat, frustrated, motioned them all to be quiet. "I'm not doing anything except defending myself from ridiculous accusations by my dear big brother!"

"You got a lot of nerve, Montserrat," Gael got face to face with his younger sister. "You want to call our father a bad parent when he worked his ass off to get both of us through? While Regina was out probably partying, he was there reading you stories and helping me with my homework-"

"-but I never said anything! And you know damn well that I know what Regina did."

"Well it doesn't seem like it-"

"-Gael-" Casey once again stepped in but the man went over her words anyways.

"-but of course you'd never understand. You're still thinking Mommy is coming back. You always thought that-"

"-screw you, Gael," Montserrat felt there was nothing left to say.

"Montserrat!" Casey hissed.

"Montse, why don't we head back to the station together?" Sonny made his own attempt as well.

"Yeah, go back to work and act like you didn't insult our father," Gael spat and finally moved around Montserrat to head for the exit.

"I'm so sorry," Damian felt like he needed to apologize to Casey at least for the siblings' brawl but it wasn't like Casey was new to it.

"We're good, go," Casey gave him the nod that it was alright for him to leave.

"No, we are not good!" Montserrat turned with the intention of catching up with her brother. "If he wants to talk about Regina then let's have it!" But of course she was stopped by both Sonny and Rafael. She fought the two for a bit before she finally backed off. "Taking his side?" she snapped at both of them.

"Easy there, Novak," Rafael pointed a finger at her to keep her from trying again. "You've got the whole building watching you."

"I don't care," she snapped. "If he wants to talk about Regina then I can do it."

"At another time," he snapped this time. "I'll find her myself if that'll shut both of you up."

That seemed to trigger her. "You know what, if you think you can find Regina Ramos then be my frikin guest because I haven't been able to find her in 25 years!" This particular spat startled Rafael due to the ferocity lacing her words. Even her expression had gone ballistic and he'd seen quite a lot of things in his line of work.

"Montserrat," Casey once again attempted to calm her cousin but Montserrat waved Casey off and took off in a storm.

"What the hell was that?" Sonny jerked a thumb over his shoulder, completely lost on the show they'd seen.

"What do you think? Another sister-brother brawl," Casey sighed. "How many siblings do you have again?"

Sonny playfully rolled his eyes. "My sisters and I have never argued like that."

"Who the hell is this Regina and why is she making such trouble?" asked Rafael. He'd certainly like to know why he'd garnered such a snap from Montserrat.

Casey knew what he was thinking and decided to answer only to clarify what Montserrat was dealing with. "Regina is Montserrat's and Gael's mother. She...sort of walked out on them when they were just kids." Casey sighed when she saw the sorrowful expressions on the men's faces. "And that's why Montse doesn't talk about that because she hated the pity faces she would get afterwards. She doesn't like talking about it, period. I mean, you guys got a firsthand look at what happens, and you-" she gestured at Rafael, "-got a firsthand  _taste_."

"Wouldn't be the first time I accidentally probed where I shouldn't have," the ADA shrugged, though inside he was feeling a tad remorseful (which he didn't like one bit).

"I would just tread lightly," Casey parted with that warning and returned to her office.

"How the hell do we 'tread lightly' after that?" Rafael was left with an unanswered question.

"We take slow steps," Sonny decided it was as close to a proper answer as they could get to.

~0~

Montserrat practically stalked into her apartment that evening with a white paper bag in one hand, and a half eaten brownie in the other. Kara looked up from her dinner plate with a mouth full of spaghetti, one noodle in particular dangling below her chin.

"What's...wrong with...you?" Kara said while she swallowed the whole food in her mouth.

"My brother's an idiot," Montserrat spat and trudged into the living room to take her coat and shoes off. She stuffed her mouth with the remainder of her brownie. Kara watched her ginger roommate chuck the paper bag (aggressively one should add) to the couch before plonking down to take off her boots.

"Uh, my brother's an idiot too. All big brothers are. Didn't you get the memo?" Kara's light joke was met with a cold deadpanning look. "Okay. Um, I know I'm going to regret asking but shouldn't you be at work?"

"I asked Liv for a personal day. She's very understanding," Montserrat threw her boot across the living room, missing how Kara winced when the hell of one boot hit the television furniture piece. She then pulled her phone out of her back pocket and let it drop (not so gently) against the glass coffee table.

Kara feared for her furniture's safety. "Um, okay, so...would you like dinner…? I made spaghetti," she motioned to her plate which was half empty already.

"Since when?" Montserrat unceremoniously snorted. "You always complain how you never got that one."

"Sonny gave me a recipe," the blonde shrugged.

Montserrat shot her roommate a look. "You're trading recipes now?" but she decided in that second that she didn't even want to get into that potential romance that was sure to make her gag. "Never mind. No, I don't want dinner."

"Right, cos stuffing your face with brownies is the better way to go," Kara's sarcasm was once again responded with a cold glare. "What's going on, Montse?"

"You mean Damian didn't call? Not even Sonny?" Montserrat grabbed her paper bag and reached for another brownie.

"No...should I call one of them…?"

"Oh, right, like you need another reason to call Sonny - stop with that!" Montserrat pretended to shiver, making Kara roll her eyes, and took a bit of her new brownie. "Gael's still mad at me for what I said about our Dad leaving us alone sometimes. He thinks I actually called my father a bad parent."

"But I'm sure you didn't mean it like that-"

"-yeah, I know," Montserrat's sudden cut in sounded rude but Kara knew Montserrat needed to vent right now and this was how she did it. "He even went ahead and brought in Regina, like I don't know what she did to us."

Kara wouldn't even try to say anything about Regina Ramos. That topic had always been a delicate one that usually resulted in arguments between Gael and Montserrat. Their mother abandoning them as kids had left raw pain that hadn't really see any healing.

"Gael is an idiot. And more than that, he's…" Montserrat couldn't even finish without getting furious all over again. "We argued outside Casey's office and...we got loud."

"...how loud?" Kara raised an eyebrow, knowing well where this was headed.

"Pretty loud."

"Were there people?"

"...when we were finished…"

"Oh, Montse. How mad was Casey?"

"I don't know. I didn't ask her when I stormed out of there after threatening Sonny and Rafael."

"Oh Montse," Kara shook her head disapprovingly.

"Gael made me so mad!"

"That's not an excuse, that's just a sister-brother relationship," Kara dug her fork into her spaghetti. "Only now you're actually held responsible for your actions."

Montserrat hated when Kara was right. She just hated it. Thankfully, someone knocked on their door, preventing Kara from continuing with her lecture.

"It's probably the Andersons downstairs complaining about your stomping," Kara warned as Montserrat went up to answer the door.

"I've still got some colorful words left if you're interested," Montserrat said before opening the door. "Great, what are you doing here?" her initial whine made Kara lean to the side to try and see who was at the door. If it was Gael, she'd take cover for sure.

"Seriously, I don't get paid enough to be your partner," Sonny said with a straight face.

Montserrat deadpanned him but took his sarcasm to heart. He probably came around trying to see if she was okay, not for Kara nor for the sake of their work... but to be a friend. Those thoughts softened her expression and made her remember some politeness. "Come on in, Sonny."

"Careful, she bites when she's angry," Kara said while Montserrat shut the door.

"I come bearing gifts," Sonny raised his hand that held a white plastic bag.

"You didn't have to," Montserrat was now feeling exceptionally guilty for her behavior earlier in the day.

"After that kind of fight, yeah, I had to," Sonny held the bag for her to take.

"I heard plural which just makes me feel awful," Montserrat admitted as she rummaged through the bag. A smile came to her face when she caught whiff of the familiar peanut butter cannolis inside one box. "And I guess Kara gets to enjoy my guilty moment."

"Why?" asked the blonde in question. She scarfed down her spaghetti and looked in their direction.

"Peanut butter cannolis," was all Montserrat had to say for Kara to jump out of her seat.

"Sonny, you didn't!?" she zipped towards them and practically yanked the bag out of Montserrat's hands to see for herself. She squeaked when she confirmed the cannolis and suddenly planted a kiss on Sonny's cheek.

Montserrat nearly laughed when she saw how red Sonny had become in less than a minute. She honestly didn't think Kara even realized what she'd done.

"You better apologize to him right now," Kara wagged a finger at Montserrat.

Montserrat rolled her eyes but did know when it was time to give in. "I  _am_  sorry, Sonny. I got carried away and I...it was  _not_  the place."

"Look, I get it, siblings can be…" Sonny wouldn't even finish that sentence because they all knew what he meant. "I just hope you're feeling better about things. Casey told us about...your mom? She said few things-" he said quickly before Montserrat assumed the worst, "-and I want you to know that Barba and I understand you were in a...special type of moment."

" _Very_  special moment…" Kara muttered under her breath.

"Shut up," Montserrat warned her. "Go eat your spaghetti already."

"You made spaghetti?" Sonny's attention was momentarily driven towards Kara. "Did you use the recipe I left you?"

"Of course," Kara smiled. "And it really was better than that frozen crap Montse buys."

"Hey," went the ginger with offence. Now it was Kara who motioned for silence. "I'm going to my room," Montserrat announced and snatched the cannolis from Kara's hands. "Thanks Sonny. And just so we're clear, Kara's not getting any."

"Rude," Kara frowned and watched her roommate go off into the hallway.

Sonny chuckled and offered to buy more another day. That perked Kara right up. Montserrat's phone started buzzing against the glass coffee table, cutting short Kara's beam.

"I really hope it's not Gael trying to continue the fight," Kara mumbled as she went to get the phone.

"Maybe he's calling to apologize?" Sonny offered another alternative but Kara shook her head.

"Looks like we're both wrong," she grabbed the phone off the table and waved the phone at Sonny, letting him see the caller ID on the screen. "Your friend's calling to check up on Montse, maybe?"

Sonny made a face that Kara found difficult not to laugh at. "Barba would never call to 'check up' on anyone."

"You came to check up on Montse, why can't Rafael do the same?"

"Because he just doesn't."

Kara's face clearly said that wasn't an answer.

"He doesn't do that sort of stuff, trust me," and that left Sonny wondering why Rafael would choose to do start doing it now.

"Hm, then Montse must be special enough to catch his attention," Kara made way for the hallway but the phone stopped buzzing. "But apparently I'm slow to help." She turned back with a disappointed expression.

"You might be right about the first thing," Sonny conceded as he thought back to the various moments of strange behaviors between Montserrat and Rafael. "But that could also be because she nearly had a kid in his courtroom."

Kara laughed. "One of Montse's finest moments. Whatever, if he meant to check up, he'll call again and this time I'll be ready." She bit her lip and looked back to the kitchen where her lonesome plate remained on the table. "I've made enough for two but it looks like Montserrat's already got dinner so...you want to stick around? Give me some feedback on the spaghetti."

"Okay," Sonny nodded. "But I doubt you got anything wrong. You're a good cook."

Kara chuckled. "I like to think that I am. C'mon, I'll get you a plate." She walked past Sonny and tucked Montserrat's phone in her back pocket to be on red alert in case Rafael were to call again. She probably should have given the phone to Montserrat but, truth be told, she was curious herself about her roommate and the ADA.

To her surprise (and Sonny's), Rafael did call again that night.

~ 0 ~

Montserrat gripped her coffee cup all the way to her desk. She saw Olivia and Nick heading out, probably to continue questioning their latest victim. She plonked down at her desk and went back to her paperwork which seemed to get bigger every time she paused to look.

"You sure you don't want to take a break?" Amanda stopped by her desk with Fin beside her. "Our comfy Chinese place is always open for a third guest."

Montserrat smiled at the two. "No, I'm good. I'll get lunch later."

"And I'll make sure she actually does," Sonny reassured since they learned fast that Montserrat tended to skip meals when she felt swamped by work.

"Your call," Fin nodded to Amanda towards the hallway.

"You  _are_  getting lunch, right?" Sonny asked after the other two were gone.

"Yes, at some point," Montserrat dug her nose into a particular file.

Sonny rolled his eyes and went back to work at his end. He paused, though, when he noticed Montserrat picking at her hair every minute or so. "What are you doing?"

Montserrat put her pen down and groaned. "Kara keeps using me as her hair model and today was apparently a big ole crown braid." Her ginger hair was picked up with a large-sized crown braid adorning her her head from ear to ear.

"It looks nice," Sonny's compliment was met with a loud scoff.

"You're only saying that because Kara made it."

"You know, not everything I do is dependent on Kara."

"Sure."

Sonny decided to just keep quiet from now on.

Fifteen minutes passed and Montserrat finished her coffee - or drowned it - so she got up for a refill.

"Sonny, you want one?"

"Nah, let's head out for lunch already," his suggestion flew over Montserrat's head as the ginger went to get more coffee.

Montserrat returned two minutes later, surprised that Sonny hadn't continued calling her name out. Of course when she saw him talking to Rafael she understood why.

"They went to go talk to her, I promise," Sonny insisted yet Rafael still looked rather doubtful. "We're doing what you asked, alright? You can call Liv right now to confirm if you want."

Montserrat awkwardly cleared her throat as she neared her desk, gaining both men's attention. "Are we finished…?"

"You're one to talk," Rafael scoffed, but Montserrat took that with a nod. She deserved it.

"C'mon councilor," Sonny gave a disapproving tilt of his head towards Rafael.

"No, it's totally fine, Sonny," Montserrat shrugged her shoulders, though her casualness seemed to end at her fingertips since she was once again gripping her coffee cup. "I was rude, so...you two get a free pass."

"It shouldn't be like that," Rafael was the one to say as he considered once more the circumstances of her outburst.

"I wasn't professional and I accept that," Montserrat nodded. "You were the one to tell me, after all. Leave my problems at home and any other thing related to my personal life. Work is a place for work only."

And as she said all that, Rafael felt that twinge of guilt knowing he was virtually doing the exact opposite of his words right now. Because of that, he felt obligated to let her episode go. More than that, it was the right thing to do.

"Montserrat it's fine." The usage of her first name made Montserrat smile - it was a sure sign he forgave her completely.

"Thanks," she whispered.

Rafael nodded at her in return. His eyes gazed at the pretty empty bullpen and figured no one would be returning anytime soon despite the cases going on. He watched as Montserrat pull her desk chair to sit back down. Even as she tried to get back to work, it was easy to tell the problems with her brother weren't letting her focus.

He honestly felt that.

And maybe it was because he felt they were in a similar place at the moment, or...maybe for another reason he didn't know of, but he spoke up with a request. "Montserrat do you want to get something to eat?"

Montserrat paused and looked up, momentarily surprised since they hadn't had a meal together in a while now. The fact Sonny's eyes were flickering from her to Rafael - not so discreetly - made it all a little more on the spot.

Was her face warm?

"I would…" Montserrat was in the middle of making her answer when she recalled Sonny's insistence to get lunch together already. She quickly looked at the lanky detective with wide eyes. "But I told you I'd get lunch with y-"

Sonny raised his hands to show it was fine. "No, no, I've still got work to do." A  _lie_. He was  _starving_. "You go ahead."

"O-okay," Montserrat reached for her bag tucked in one of her drawers then looked to Rafael with a growing smile. "My turn to pay?"

"No, it's on me," he smiled right back at her. He felt awkward with the staring eyes of Sonny so he hoped Montserrat would get a move on already.

"I'll see you later," Montserrat told Sonny as she got up to leave.

"Hey, when is Kara's lunch hour?" Sonny's question earned him a deadpanning look from the ginger woman. "Hey, if you get to go on a date, then I get to go on a date."

"It's not a date," went Montserrat and Rafael simultaneously, quickly exchanging glances with each other to make sure the other knew they didn't think it was a date.

"Fine," Sonny picked his battles carefully and decided Kara would probably have a much better idea on how to go about this. "But seriously, when is her lunch hour?"

"Carisi, leave her alone," Rafael motioned Montserrat to walk ahead, and the look he gave Sonny just made things even more suspicious for Sonny.

Oh, Kara was definitely going to have something to say about this.

~ 0 ~

Steak. Steak was unofficially declared as the favorite meal.

"How could you get barbecue on that?" Rafael crinkled his nose when Montserrat practically savored her barbecued drenched steak.

"The real question is how could you  _not_  put barbecue on it," Montserrat smiled widely after swallowing.

"Some of us have taste," Rafael's straight answer made her laugh.

"And some of us are just plain rude. Guess who's who?"

Rafael took that as a tie between them and took more of his plate. It was refreshing to have someone who could keep up with his 'sharp mouth' as Olivia often said he had. As he ate, he watched her cautiously like he was waiting for something. And it seemed like Montserrat knew just what he was waiting for.

"I'm not gonna shout at you again. Gael's not here," she reminded him and reached for her glass.

"But are you...are you doing better now?" he asked slowly, now fully taking Casey's warning to tread lightly on the subject.

Montserrat appreciated his concern. "I'm...better in that I don't feel like shouting at anyone. But Gael's still not speaking to me." And even as she tried to smile a little, it was easy to see how big of a struggle it was.

There were probably plenty ways to start, but for some reason Rafael couldn't think of the right way. "About...about your...your…"

"This is the first time I've seen you speechless, councilor," Montserrat's smile widened, becoming a genuine smile in the process. "Have to say, I like it. But don't do that in court."

Rafael rolled his eyes at her, though her small-time humor did make things easier sometimes for them. "I meant about...Regina?" he watched the sarcasm fade from her face all too fast.

"I have nothing to say about that woman," Montserrat grabbed her glass again, drinking as a form of retreat. It pretty much said the opposite of her words.

"Except it looks like you do." And that was the thing about Rafael, he was trained to be observant. "And the things Gael said…"

"Look," Montserrat tinkered with her glass on the table, "Gael hates our mother. He despises her because she walked out on us when we were kids. Now,  _h_ remembers more since he was older, so naturally he has more reason to hate her. He remembers the love and warmth Regina deprived him of...I don't." Her attempt at a careless shrug failed. "I was four. I can't remember her that well except she knitted me this little pink sweater that I used to wear  _everywhere_. And I mean, mothers don't make things like that if they didn't love you, right?"

She knew it was an unfair question to make, putting Rafael on the spot like that (not that he wasn't used to it) but it was something that always nagged at her mind. If her mother went through the trouble of knitting that sweater then it had to mean she did it because she  _wanted_  to, because she loved her daughter. It was right... right?

"I shouldn't have asked that," she said once she'd gone through her thoughts twice and realized how out of line it was.

"Yeah, maybe you shouldn't have," Rafael's agreement elicited quite a look from Montserrat. "I mean, it's not like my answer is going to make a difference." He smirked when Montserrat understood his point. "Is it?"

"Sometimes I actually hate you," she muttered though he laughed it off.

"And yet you're still here. How's your lunch by the way?" His not-so-subtle reminder that he was paying for their lunch wasn't made for bad intentions but if not to remind her in general of their little agreements.

You didn't go out for meals with someone you actually hated.

"It's actually very good, thanks…" Montserrat debated whether or not to be very specific about what she was thanking him for since it borderlined a different line of their friendship. "Thank you," she ended up saying anyways, nervously fidgeting in her chair afterwards.

Rafael completely understood her and nodded. "Anytime."

Montserrat found herself smiling more than she should have and quickly looked to her half-eaten food on her plate. "Okay, we're done with the unprofessionalism for now I promise."

"Novak, you don't have to keep worrying about that. Trust me, I finally understand it's not that easy being so detached."

Now that pulled Montserrat's gaze off her food in a millisecond. "I'm sorry, are you saying you were  _wrong_?"

Rafael deadpanned her but even that didn't stop her from looking so wide-eyed. "Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about," he warned.

"But I'm not acting…"

Rafael searched her face for any indication that she knew of their recent case's problem, but there was nothing. "H-how...you  _do_  know about our case at the moment, right?"

"With the shoe model? Yeah, I've been following it like everyone else. Why?"

"Novak you're not kidding me, are you?"

"No, I am not. What did I miss?"

Rafael wondered how out of it Montserrat had to have been for her not to know what their case was doing to him and the squad. So, he began to tell her just how close he was to the suspect in their custody at the moment.

"Wait a minute, so you're friends with our mayor-to-be Alex Muñoz?" Montserrat chuckled at the irony. "Kara loves him. She has me and Sonny already lining up to vote for him."

"Well, Alex is a pretty good candidate," Rafael said as impartially as possible.

"Yeah, and a flirt," Montserrat's statement did not pass well with him.

"Excuse me?"

"I met him outside the DAs building just before meeting with Gael. I only talked to him for like two minutes and it was enough to confirm he is a  _flirt_." Montserrat reached for her glass on the table. "He gave me his number and everything."

"He's  _married_ ," Rafael said with a deep frown on his face, though the fact Montserrat nearly choked on her drink made him believe she didn't know that detail.

"What?" the poor woman reached for a napkin to dry her mouth. Her big wide eyes looked at him for some explanation.

"He's married and has three daughters. How did you not know that?"

"Because I work a ten hour shift?" Montserrat snapped and cleared her throat. "Hey, I did  _not_ flirt with him. You can ask Sonny - he was there. I didn't do anything."

"Maybe you misunderstood Alex's intentions," Rafael said alternatively, though there was something in the pit of his stomach that told him something else that was wrong was already brewing.

Montserrat would have argued that she most certainly did not misread his intentions but he already looked so...conflicted about the case. She didn't want to make things worse. "So, you grew up with these guys?"

Rafael slowly nodded his head. "Yeah…" but even then he still wasn't shifting away from the other topic.

Montserrat tried again and hoped for some luck. "Were you really close? Or was it like a hello-bye basis thing?"

"N-no, um…" Rafael shook his head and got back into the topic at hand. "We grew up together. The three of us. Los tres mosqueteros de Jerome Avenue. The three musketeers of Jerome Avenue."

Montserrat laughed. "Like the three musketeers, that's adorable. And I will be sure to remind you of that whenever you need it. Or when I feel like it."

A smile came to Rafael's face whether he had wanted it or not. "The joy."

"So you guys were like a close a team, then?"

"Mhm. Alex had the heart. I had the mouth, of course-"

"Of course," Montserrat smiled so widely it might have cracked her face in two.

"Eddie had the muscle to protect us when we got into trouble."

"And what kind of trouble did our young ADA get into?"

"Stop it."

"Impossible." Montserrat leveled his look until her lips curled into a smile, which was done in a pretty impressive time. Anyone else would have looked away out of sheer uncomfortableness. Eventually, she gave in but only because she wanted to get to something really important. "I hate to bring it up but please tell me you're not actually wanting us to...look the other way in this case because you happen to know the perp?"

The sheer 'perp' mention made Rafael uncomfortable. He never wanted to believe any of his friends could be capable of some atrocity. "I would never do that. I am only asking that you all get the facts before taking any action."

"...fair enough," Montserrat conceded with a small nod of her head. "But can I ask you something now?"

"Of course."

"How did you know the perp was a friend of yours? My understanding is you don't get involved until  _we_  call  _you_  and...I distinctly remember you being there when we first brought Eddie in."

"Alex came to talk to me," Rafael said, shrugging his shoulders and missing Montserrat's moment of pause.

"So...our mayor-to-be had time to do all this when he's near the elections?"

Rafael was about to take a drink but paused midway to give Montserrat a look. "What do you mean by that?"

"I'm sorry to say but people in Alex's situation don't really have time to look for anyone's back but their own," Montserrat expected some type of reprimand for her words judging by the look on Rafael's face.

"Eddie's been volunteering for him. He's been driving him around during the campaign and since - like I said before - we are all childhood friends, it's natural we try to help each other out."

"Right," Montserrat was smart enough to know it was time to keep her mouth shut. She didn't know who these men were so she should probably leave that up to Rafael for when the case gets further made. Still, now that she knew more details about the case there were some conflicts she could see coming into play very soon.

Just as they were finishing up their lunch, Rafael heard his phone go off. Soon as he fished it out of his pocket, he saw Olivia's name on the screen. "It's Liv." His tone of voice radiated anxiety so Montserrat assured him she was all done with lunch.

The two returned to the precinct quickly and listened - just like the others - as Olivia and Nick relayed their latest visit to Lindsey. Apparently, she was taking everything back and even adding new details...ones that didn't fit really well.

"Lindsay told you Eddie came into the store with his wife?" Rafael raised an eyebrow at Nick. "No chance. He hasn't seen her in three years. She's partying in Miami…"

"Are you sure?" Nick had still decent suspicion towards their perp and wasn't going to be letting it go just because said perp happened to know their ADA. "Cause he still wears his ring."

"I'm sure. Eddie's... eh, he's just catolico, loyal."

"So Lindsay saw the ring, tried to make up a story," Olivia was on the boat of keeping peace amongst them. "Yeah, then she says that she'd be more comfortable just talking to Nick."

"Because she thinks she has a better chance of working the male partner," Amanda made a face of disapproval, shared by the rest.

"So she's lied to you, tried to manipulate you…" Rafael almost started listing off with his fingers when Nick cut in.

"So did Eddie."

"I know Eddie's story," Rafael said all too quick, warning a mini-glare from Nick. "What's hers? Find out. Now." He gave all of them a sharp look before heading out.

"Great going, I had him relaxed twenty minutes ago," Montserrat made it as a joke but some of them took it to heart.

"Yeah, we heard about your impromptu date from Sonny," Fin said with a tiny of a smirk on his lips.

"It was not a - wait, where's Sonny?" Montserrat looked around for the lanky detective.

"He's with that roommate of yours," Amanda answered her and almost laughed at the wide-eyed look Montserrat did.

"I'll kill him." She huffed and went for her desk to get started on their work.

"Not until after 10 you won't," Olivia said a she passed Montserrat. "I need everyone working on this right now."

Montserrat huffed but obeyed. Of course it didn't help one bit when Sonny returned fifteen minutes later wearing a big smile on his face. Clearly he had a good time. And when she got home that night, Kara would be up and ready to tell Montserrat how much of a good time she had too.

"He just, like... surprised me! He finally brought me to that place he goes to when he brings cannolis! Let me just tell you that they are better fresh at the store - Montse?" Kara paused when she saw the ginger rubbing her temples. Montserrat had a laptop set in front of her but it appeared whatever she'd been looking at was no longer her interest.

"Kara, this is not a good idea," Montserrat dropped her hands to the kitchen table.

"What isn't?"

"You, Sonny...whatever that even is - it's not a good idea."

Kara's eyebrows knitted together. "Why not?"

"Because of it  _doesn't_  work out, guess who's gonna be the one that'll be stuck in the middle?" Montserrat swirled her index finger before pointing at herself with it. "Me."

"That's kind of selfish, don't you think?" Kara plopped down at chair next to her.

"No, just being mindful of a potential future."

Kara playfully rolled her eyes. "Well, thank you for your concern but as far as I'm concerned, things are going just  _fine_. It is, after all,  _my_ life." Montserrat sighed not so quietly but did concede with Kara on that point. "Besides, if anyone should be mindful of who they go out with, it should be  _you_."

It was Montserrat's turn to be thoroughly confused. "Me? What for?"

A smirk tugged at Kara's lips as she answered the question. "Sonny mentioned that you basically dumped him at lunch today for the ADA."

"I'm seriously going to kill him," Montserrat shook her head. "We won't have to worry about things not working out because he'll be found dead tomorrow morning."

Kara laughed at her roommate's dramatics. "Oh c'mon, he did you a solid. Anyone else would've been on your ass for leaving them right before lunch."

Knowing exactly where Kara was headed at, Montserrat decided to beat her to it and explain the famous lunch she has today. "I still needed to apologize and Rafael suggested we go to lunch-"

"-suggested or  _asked_  because Sonny mentioned it was more of an ask-"

"-stop! I'll kill him!"

Kara laughed again. Montserrat slammed her laptop lid shut and moved to get up, prompting Kara to sober quickly. "Okay, okay, I'll stop!" she put one hand over Montserrat's arm. "I honestly thought it was kind of sweet he asked you, even when you've been avoiding him for days. Anyone else would've...well...avoided you too."

Montserrat sighed realizing Kara was right. She let herself fall back into her chair. "Yeah, it was. Rafael has his moments."

"A lot with you," Kara muttered not so quietly. Montserrat practically growled and got up from her chair. She made a beeline for her room. "I'm sorry!" Kara laughing didn't exactly help Montserrat believe her.

"You're a child!" Montserrat shouted before slamming her bedroom door shut.


	12. History

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> SVU continues looking into Eddie's case and despite what he does, Rafael continues to get closer and closer to the case...prompting one detective to say something

The fact Lindsay may have been lying about rape charges was not a big shocker for anyone in SVU. However, the part of  _who_  was really her target may have been a surprise for someone else. Still, despite the difficulty, the squad knew they had a duty to lay out the truth no matter how difficult.

"She sent  _what_  to  _who_?" Montserrat shivered and it wasn't from the morning breeze. Since she'd been a little late to work, Olivia, Sonny and Nick were briefing her in on some details she'd missed from the case before they met with Rafael.

"Don't make us repeat that," Nick opened the door for everyone and was the last to come in.

"Yeah I don't want to hear it again either," Sonny crinkled his nose.

Montserrat figured they were right and kept walking beside Olivia. She almost followed Olivia into Rafael's office when she saw a familiar face coming down the hall. "Damien?" Seeing him made Montserrat immediately search for her brother nearby.

"He's not here, Montse," Damien said in an apologetic tone.

Montserrat nodded her head, figuring she should've seen that coming. "Right, he wouldn't come here if he knows there's always a chance of seeing me."

"Montserrat, don't be dramatic-"

"Yeah, no, he hates me," Montserrat said with absolutely no hesitation. "My brother hates me."

Damien tried to remain unfazed by that but it was impossible when he was so close to both sides. Instead, he looked past her to the others and smiled. "Sibling rivalries take a whole other level with these two. I'm Damien Mackie, by the way." He moved to shake hands with Olivia first, followed by Nick and then a more casual one for Sonny.

"They're my co-workers," Montserrat glumly said.

"Oh, yeah, I know. Montserrat and Kara talk a lot," Damien said to the trio, prompting a smile from all three. "It's nice to meet you." He then turned to Montserrat, seeing her still glum due to her brother's behavior. "Hey, cheer up-"

Montserrat perked up immediately and tried to downplay the problem. "I'm fine, trust me. I'm a little sister - I've had problems with Gael before." Her smile faltered, however, when she looked from Damien to the others. They were all staring right at her with that... _look_. It was a look of sympathy.

"Montse," Damien spoke quieter and stepped closer to her. "It's okay." The woman shifted uncomfortably on her feet. "Hey, do you want to get some dinner later? You can vent all you'd like."

A smile came to Montserrat's lips. "Nice offer. We'll talk."

Damien smiled back at her. "I'll call you later, then."

"Mhm," Montserrat nodded, though part of her knew it wouldn't make much of a difference how much she vented. The reality was her brother hated her.

"Well, you're certainly full of dates," Sonny's playful remark brought her back to the present.

Montserrat turned to find him and Nick giving her identical smirks. Olivia was of course the only one who remained normal, but she knew exactly where this was headed.

"Excuse me?" the ginger raised an eyebrow at her partner.

Sonny looked pretty proud of himself for making connections he  _thought_ were connections. "C'mon, first with Barba-"

"-was not a date-"

"-and now with Damien-"

"-also...not a date," Montserrat was smiling only out of courtesy. She didn't actually appreciate these types of accusations.

"Hmm, a meal at a fancy restaurant sounds like a date to me," Sonny pretended to second guess himself so he glanced at Nick. "What do you think?"

Both men flatout ignored Montserrat's growing glare and Olivia's disapproval.

"Did she ask Barba or did he-"

"-no  _he_  asked  _her_ ," Sonny said and Nick nodded before continuing.

"And then we heard Damien ask her to dinner, so...yeah, it sounds like a date to me," Nick flashed a smile at Montserrat.

Montserrat silently vowed that the laws were the only things keeping her from killing the two. "What do you two know?" she snapped then pointed at Nick. "You're divorced and you're-" she moved her finger to Sonny, "-single as they come." She gave the two a nod and stormed away.

Both Sonny and Nick blinked at her boldness then looked over to Olivia to see what she would say. The Sergeant languidly shrugged her shoulders, giving them a ' _you asked for it_ ' look in return.

Montserrat walked into Rafael's office without much of a greeting as he would expect, even if it was a sarcastic one at times. She made a beeline for the stock of alcohol he kept at a table.

"Help...yourself," Rafael gave her a strange look from his desk.

Montserrat nodded towards the incoming Sonny and Nick as her explanation for her entrance. It actually was enough reason. Rafael was no stranger to that type of drinking. He may or may not have mumbled 'drink all you'd like' under his breath after thinking of the many times the detectives gave him headaches.

"Good news, bad news, counselor," Olivia's announcement didn't exactly lift Rafael's spirits. "Eddie wasn't in a relationship with Lindsay, and he wasn't trying to rape her. .."

"Get to the bad part…" Rafael hesitated to say.

"Well, we think she may have been in a relationship with Alex Muñoz," Nick answered perhaps a bit too fast. "And when she tried to shake him down, Alex sent Eddie over to tune her up."

"Interesting theory. Is that all it is?"

"You know it isn't or we wouldn't be here," Montserrat lowered her glass to say. "Lindsay's M.O. is to get her hooks into powerful, married men."

"Basically, she's a heat-seeking missile, and Eddie has no heat but Alex does," Sonny laid the truth out in simpler terms.

"If you knew Yelina, you'd know he'd never step out on her," was Rafael's curt response, but the others knew it was practically impossible for him to react any other way.

"But who knows if he would," Montserrat's challenge didn't make it easier for him. "How long has it been since you've talked with any of these people again?"

"That is of no relevance, Novak."

"Now hold on, it does," Nick stepped in. "Look, if Eddie was sent to assault her or scare her-"

"I understand what you're saying, and you're wrong. But take the steps you would with any other investigation. No one's interfering," Rafael gestured the door to them as a sign they could go ahead and continue with their work. He'd have nothing to do nor say about it.

"Easier said than done," Montserrat quietly said as she left her near empty glass on his desk. She wasn't being smug, not a know it all, she was just making a true statement. Unfortunately, said true statement earned herself quite a look from the ADA.

~0~

"What do you mean she's got some high profile job now? She was a shoe model for God's sake," Montserrat couldn't figure out how the hell Lindsay managed to snub them all and disappear in the night only to resurface in Israel as a political consultant.

" _Unemployed_  shoe clerk," Amanda corrected, the two women sharing a hum later.

Olivia crossed the white board in front of them and took a seat at the edge of the conference table. "We've been played."

" _Badly_ ," Fin added with his own touch of annoyance.

"She's working for Telling Aviv now and guess who runs that campaign?" Sonny came up to them with his own information. "Hank Abraham."

Olivia couldn't roll her eyes harder. That man wasn't the easiest person to deal with, and now it seemed like he would become part of their case. "Alright, fine, we need to go talk to him and find out how the hell this happened."

"We should also talk to Mr. Muñoz about this," Nick's sourness wasn't even bothered to be hidden. "See what he has to say about all this."

It was clear that Olivia was reluctant considering what that entailed. Still, she had to put her job first. "Do it."

"I'll go," Montserrat volunteered. "He kind of already knows me."

"Yeah, and someone should go with her," Sonny immediately said after remembering the last time she met that mayor to be. Montserrat shot him a look because she knew exactly what he was talking about. Boy was he trying to get on her bad list this week.

Still, in the end, Olivia agreed.

~0~

"This is all...exaggerated," Montserrat crinkled her nose while her head whipped from one market stall to the next.

Nick, who walked beside her, merely smiled at her. The local gathering was an obvious Latin predominance and it was lively as could be. It was so crowded that the two detectives constantly bumped into people while merely walking.

"It's a regular day here," Nick shrugged but then gave her an amused glance. "You feel out of place or something...Slovakian?"

Montserrat playfully rolled her eyes at him. "I'm half Slovakian, and I'm also half Mexican. Unfortunately, I lack some education on the latter." Nick shot her a sharp side-glance, as if asking just how little she was talking about. "I know some Spanish, but...could probably use some more help on it."

Nick suddenly stopped by a stand and pointed at none other than a miniature, caricature-styled Virgin Mary. "Oh, so you know who this is?" Montserrat opened her mouth but of course things were never that easy. "In  _Spanish_?"

Montserrat glared at him and continued walking. "You're not funny, Nicolas Amaro." She stuffed her hands into her coat's pocket and purposely picked up her pace. Though the place was pretty loud, she still heard Nick's laugh behind her.

They moved swiftly through the crowd and eventually got to the back of a stage. It seemed like they were just on time because the mayor-to-be was just coming down the stage after a lively speech.

"Alex Muñoz, can we talk to you for a minute?" Nick's call froze Alex and his bodyguards. It certainly got the guards in protective modes. "It concerns Eduardo Garcia."

Nick's words were like an alert. Alex shooed his guards away but almost a second later, a woman dressed in professional clothing came to his side.

"Honey, is everything okay?" she flipped her long, dark hair behind her shoulder. Her dark eyes examined the two detectives in front of them.

"Oh, absolutely. I'm just gonna talk to them about the police foundation event," Alex's lie was given so smoothly it made both Montserrat and Nick wonder how many times he'd used something like that to fool his wife. "I'll see you by the van, okay?"

Yelina Muñoz was an intelligent woman who knew when she was being set behind the lines. She raked the two detectives from head to toe twice before finally agreeing to give them some space.

"Didn't know you were married, Mr. Muñoz," Montserrat didn't hesitate to say after they were alone. Her comment was clearly referencing their previous meeting and she hoped it would knock some guilt into the man for flirting with her.

Alex just smiled. "'Now I'm offended at how little you've been following the campaigns, Miss…?"

" _Detective_  Novak," Montserrat laid out exactly how she wanted to be addressed from here on out by him. "And, like Detective Amaro mentioned, we need to talk about your friend."

"Listen, I'm tight on time. I got a meeting over at the archdiocese-"

"Yeah, we just have a few loose ends we need to tie up," Nick assured him but it wasn't enough to ease Alex. "See, we've been looking at Lindsay Anderson's background. It doesn't quite add up, the story of how she got involved with Eddie. Eddie's got a broken heart, and he's... he's not the best judge of character."

"She probably saw an easy mark."

"Well, that fits her pattern, but all the other men she went after were rich, and Eddie, no offense, es un muerto de hambre."

"Kind of offensive," Montserrat whispered to Nick, startling him. "Yeah, I understood that," she gave him a look before clearing her throat. "So any comment, Mr. Muñoz?"

"I don't know what to tell you," Alex's straight face was more than irritating for one detective who already disliked him.

"Mr. Muñoz, we haven't called the brass. We want to handle this discreetly," Nick stepped closer and lowered his voice. "Eddie's close to you, so we have to ask. Is he covering for you?"

"What?" Alex took one step back and almost glared at Nick for the question. "I'm a happily married man. I never even met this woman."

"But you have an...easy going attitude," Montserrat raised an eyebrow at him. "You sure there isn't anything you want to tell us right now?"

"On the grave of mi abuelita. I've never seen her. I've never spoken to her," Alex raised his hands to show he was being honest. "What does she say?"

"Well, she left her apartment abruptly last night. We're tracking her down," Montserrat hoped that would be enough to encourage him to speak already. Unfortunately, she hoped too much.

"That's the kind of person you're dealing with, a person who makes accusations and then disappears," Alex shrugged. "I guess that's good news for Eddie. If you'll excuse me."

"Definitely retracting my vote," Montserrat knew this guy was just a plain liar, which would turn out to be a bad thing for a certain ADA who feigned distance. "He's a liar and he's definitely a smug liar. He's so sure we won't find Lindsay anymore."

"That's okay, I just did," Nick was holding his phone, thumb scrolling over the screen. "Last night, I friended her on Facebook."

Montserrat's eyebrows raised together, partially amused and another part surprised. "I don't...I don't even know how to respond to that."

"You can thank me because I know she's on her way to Israel for her - and I quote - new awesome job," Nick turned his phone around for Montserrat to see a picture of Lindsay on an airplane.

"You have got to be kidding me," Montserrat walked around the detective and started her way back to the car.

~ 0 ~

Montserrat feared coming to Casey's office since lately it had resulted in public arguments with her brother. When she walked into Casey's office, she was surprised to find her two nieces sitting on the leather couch.

"Aunt Montserrat!" Ivana jumped off the couch, leaving her coloring book and crayons to fall on the floor, and ran towards Montserrat.

Though surprised, Montserrat reacted fast enough to catch her four year old niece in a big hug that resulted in carrying the girl on her hip. "Woah, hello there, Ivana. What are you doing here?"

"Being babysat because I'm a baby, apparently," Juliana Novak muttered from the couch, still engrossed in her phone to look up. The older niece wasn't happy about her place and in a moment, it would only get worse.

"Good, you're here," Casey walked into her office with a degree of stress that even Montserrat felt in the air. "I have a court case and they need to be babysat."

"Excuse me?" Montserrat blinked. "I'm on the job too."

"Yeah, but it's easier for you to take them. I can't have Ivana sitting next to me while I talk about homicide, can I?"

Ivana stopped playing with Montserrat's earring to look at Casey. "What's 'micide?"

Casey gestured at the girl to make her point. "I'm sorry, Gael needed someone to watch them and he only had me-"

"-because he's being stubborn and not talking to me," Montserrat spat.

"And I offered myself up thinking another ADA could handle my case today."

"So what happened?"

"She's a flake. Look, I gotta go-"

"-but Casey, Gael will go ballistic if he knows I'm the one who looked after the girls."

"I don't need a babysitter!" everyone ignored Juliana's exclaim.

"Just bring them back at eight and it'll be like I took care of them."

"And you don't think one of them is gonna say something?"

Both women looked at the four year old in Montserrat's arms. Juliana cleared her throat, drawing their attention to her. "I know a way to keep her quiet but it's gonna cost you."

Casey raised an eyebrow at her, certainly not about to let a fourteen year old girl blackmail her. "I got a better idea. How about you tell us and I won't tell your father you back talked to me all afternoon."

Juliana smirked. "And that is why I wanna be an ADA like you. Always with the right words."

"Mhm," Casey set a hand on her hip. "Spill."

Juliana got up from the couch and walked up to Ivana. "Hey, Ivana, you want to play the secret game?"

Ivana gasped and quickly nodded her head. "Mhm! What's my prize this time?"

"I don't know, what's her prize this time?" Juliana looked between her aunts.

"A donut," Montserrat said plainly since she knew the four year old loved donuts. "And Juliana gets one Starbucks."

Juliana took the deal. "Okay, Ivana, the secret is that we're going out with Aunt Montse. But if Dad asks, we were at Disneyland."

Ivana giggled and shook her head. "I won't tell Daddy."

"What?" Casey crinkled her nose. "How's that gonna help us?"

"Because if she mentions aunt Montse, then she'll mention Disneyland too and that'll make Dad think she's just being random."

"This makes me wonder how many times you've done this," Montserrat admitted and knew there were plenty secrets judging by the big smirk on Juliana's face.

"Starbucks?"

Montserrat rolled her eyes and nodded Juliana to get going. She looked back to Casey who thanked her one more time before leaving first.

"Aunt Montse, if you're still working then where are we gonna go?" Juliana held the office door for Montserrat.

"I have no idea," Montserrat answered with nothing but the truth.

~0~

"You brought your nieces to the station?" Sonny asked after Montserrat placed Juliana and Ivana in the interview room. Thankfully, the place had toys and free WiFi.

"Well, I couldn't very well leave them in Casey's office alone could I?" Montserrat turned for her desk.

"Why not ask Kara?"

"Because her salon's swamped today. I don't want the girls getting in her way."

"They're cute," Amanda walked on by towards her desk. "But the older one just asked for a Starbucks with some ridiculous alterations."

Montserrat groaned and plopped down on her chair. "This child. So, what new details do we have for the case?"

"Well, Olivia and Nick just went to see Barba who put in a special request to talk," Fin notified her.

"Yikes. That means we're in trouble," the ginger made a face.

"The one who's in trouble is Alex," Sonny corrected as he too sat back in his desk. "The aid who left with Lindsey for Israel was working on Alex's campaign till yesterday."

"Smells corruption a mile away," Montserrat agreed. "And how do we prove that again?"

"The obvious choice is Eddie but since he's basically ducking our calls we're pretty much out of options," Fin made a gesture with his hands.

"Well, he's been ducking  _our_  calls but maybe if an old friend visited him he wouldn't be so cryptic," Montserrat's smiled basically said all that needed to be explained.

"You really think sending Barba to talk to Eddie is a good idea?"

"Not my best idea but a somewhat decent one." Montserrat swayed her chair side to side, resting one arm over the armrest. "I'm just saying it would help if Rafael could give the guy a reality check."

"Either way, we need to be  _very_  cautious in how we act," Olivia warned them all with a sharp look. "We are ten days away from an election, meaning we need to be absolutely sure that we don't miss the target."

~0~

"I wanted a double chocolate Java," Juliana crinkled her nose after taking her first sip of her drink.

Olivia flashed a smile at Montserrat, who was rolling her eyes at her niece.

"Too much chocolate isn't a good thing," Montserrat patted Juliana's head and headed back into the bullpen. "Children, I swear."

"...and then I told Sara that I could jump so, so high but she thought I was lying…" Ivana was in the middle of explaining to Sonny when the women walked back into the bullpen. She was swinging her small legs on the chair positioned beside Sonny's desk. "So I had to show her but then I fell down and I got blood on my knee - wanna see!?"

"Don't even think about it," Montserrat forced the four year old to sit still before she jumped up to show the scrape on her knee.

"She's quite the story teller," Sonny mused. He'd been listening to her outrageous story for the past 10 minutes and it was honestly one of the cutest things ever.

"Hm, she'll talk your ears off if you let her," Montserrat patted Ivana's shoulders.

"You're back early," Olivia's voice drew the other two detectives to the entrance. Amanda and Fin were coming back with discouraging faces.

"Eddie's a no-go, he's not talking anymore. Period," Amanda released a sigh.

"He's still sticking to the story about Lindsey having an abortion," Fin added. "Practically slammed the door on us."

Olivia took her phone out of her pocket when she felt it vibrate. "Nick's checked in and we've had no luck on getting Alex to talk either."

There was an unsettling silence amongst the group until Montserrat spoke up. "So...do we want to try my plan now?" Olivia turned to her with a raised eyebrow, though the lieutenant seemed unsure of their next move now. "I could ask him myself," Montserrat offered to make it easier for them. "That way if he yells it'll be at me." Olivia playfully rolled her eyes but did give the go. Montserrat beamed and moved towards her desk in time to see her phone buzzing. "Hey, looks like I can kill two birds with one stone. I have to get the girls back to Casey," she smiled. "Wish me luck."

Fin's small laugh was not a good sign. "You're gonna need a lot more than just 'luck'."

Montserrat deadpanned him for a moment before turning away. "You're not funny, Fin."

Fin thought he really was.

Montserrat collected Juliana from the interview room, ignoring the teen's protest of 'free WiFi!' then returned to the bullpen for Ivana. She got a last 'good luck' from Olivia - as well as another remark from Fin - before heading out.

~0~

"You remember the story, right?" Montserrat hated to be asking this to her nieces but for the time being it was better not to further antagonize her brother.

"Yeah, aunt Casey left us with her assistant all afternoon," Juliana nodded. "And I had no Starbucks whatsoever."

"You're damn right you didn't," Montserrat hummed. She was about to pull open the door of the DAs building when Ivana yelped for her to stop. "What? What is it?" Montserrat thought the girl may have been hurt from how sharp that Yelp was.

Ivana was trying to take something out of her backpack. "I made a map to find aunt Casey's office."

"A map? Seriously?" Juliana was not impressed. She stared down at her little sister with a degree of annoyance. "Ivana, we know where the off-"

Montserrat gently nudged Juliana to stop talking. "Alright, Ivana, go ahead. Can you find aunt Casey's office for us?"

"Mhm!" Ivana raised her map in the air while her free hand put her backpack back on. Of course, Juliana had to help her put the backpack on. "Me first! Follow me!"

"She's such a dork," Juliana groaned after her sister had gone into the building.

"She's  _four_ ," Montserrat reminded. "Should I even start a list of all the ridiculous stuff you used to do at that age?"

Juliana rolled her eyes. "No."

Montserrat smiled and moved the girl inside. Ivana was already ahead with her map right in front of her face. Just as Montserrat was about to warn the girl she was going to bump into someone, her phone went off.

Montserrat fished her phone out of her pocket and saw it was Casey calling. "Maybe your aunt felt us coming," she chuckled.

"Ivana - watch where you're going!" she heard Juliana practically yell.

She quickly forgot her phone and looked up to see Ivana had indeed crashed into someone - falling on her bottom - and that someone seemed to be wearing a very expensive golden gown.

"Crap," Montserrat muttered and put her phone away to rush over. "I am so sorry!" she began apologizing to the woman. "She wasn't looking where she was going even when I told her to-" Montserrat stopped when she realized that she  _knew_  the woman. "Crap," the mumble came out in a blurt.

"You're the detective who visited my husband earlier," the woman said in the same realization as Montserrat.

"I am…?" Montserrat repeated, blaming herself for putting herself into this situation.

The woman deadpanned Montserrat. "I'm not an idiot."

"Didn't expect you to be," Montserrat raised her hands in neutrality. "Mrs. Muñoz-"

"-Yelina, please," the taller woman's interruption was kind yet final.

"Right, okay, in, I just don't think it's a good idea for you to be here."

"I'm here for answers, Detective…?"

"Novak. Please, did your husband send you here? I understand he and our ADA have some history."

"My husband has no idea I'm even here," Yelina smiled a type of smile that Montserrat could say one should fear. "And I'm going to get those answers." She wagged a finger at Montserrat, making the latter wonder if this was attempting to be condescending. If Yelina was, it was more annoying than actual condescension. "The ADA and I also have some history."

"Okay," Montserrat awkwardly cleared her throat. She was choosing to ignore that smug smile on Yelina's face in favor of the fact her nieces we're waiting and watching them (but she knew exactly what that smugness indicated). "Good luck. Ivana, Juliana, let's go," she ushered the two girls ahead.

"We're not using my map!" Ivana exclaimed, already forming a pout on her face.

Montserrat just quickened her pace. "We'll use it another time, Ivana."

"That lady seemed kind of mean in a...subtle kind of way," Juliana's remark earned her a sharp glance from Montserrat. "What?"

"I didn't know you knew the meaning of the word 'subtle', Jules," Montserrat briefly smirked when her niece glared.

"And I didn't know that you thought a plain insult would be enough to distract me from that lady's words."

Ivana had already rushed into Casey's office, but when Juliana went in afterwards she almost felt sorry for what was to come next...for her aunt.

Montserrat cursed in her mind the moment she saw Gael emerging from Casey's office. "Crap," one word had to make it out of her lips. Montserrat stopped under the threshold and looked at her brother for a moment.

Casey had come out wearing an apologetic expression. "Please don't argue here," she pleaded quietly. "Just because my assistant is gone doesn't mean the rest of my co-workers are too."

"Don't worry, Casey, I've got no intention of making a fool out of myself for someone who has no listening skills," Montserrat knew her words were childish but after weeks of getting the silent treatment from her brother, she felt she was leaving the sad stage and moving onto the next: anger.

Gael scoffed. "Seriously, Montserrat? Could you at least act your full 29 years?"

"I will when you start acting like your full 39 years."

Gael glared. For a moment, Casey thought he would erupt into a new round of screams. But instead, Gael reached down and picked up Ivana into his arms. "Let's go, sweetheart. We'll get dinner on our way home."

"Dad," Juliana called as her father started heading out. "What are you even arguing about?"

"It doesn't concern you, Juliana. Let's go."

Juliana seemed almost offended by the curt response. "I'm fifteen, I'm not a child. What are you-"

"Juliana, let's go," Gael's voice had lowered and with the look he fixated on her, the teenager was left with no choice but to follow.

"Bye aunt Casey. Bye aunt Montserrat," Juliana said quietly then walked after her father.

Casey crossed her arms and waited until it was just her and Montserrat. "Well, that could have gone a lot worse."

"I thought he'd scream at me or even you for letting me take the girls today," Montserrat admitted.

"Oh no, he had his own go at me before you came," Casey informed her. "Why do you think I was calling you? I was trying to give you a heads up.'

"Oooh," Montserrat remembered the brief moment she had with her cellphone outside the building. "My bad."

Casey playfully rolled her eyes. "Oh Montse. Juliana is right, though. This argument is getting ridiculous."

"You're a Novak, you should know we take our arguments very serious," Montserrat turned to leave.

"Yeah, but, do you even  _know_  what you're supposed to be mad about anymore?"

Montserrat stopped by the threshold and thought about things. "I mean...I made one measly comparison between Dad and some other guy, but I swear it was just a fact. Dad did leave us alone sometimes when we were kids, but I never said that he was a bad father."

Casey knew the story well. She crossed her arms and moved a couple steps forwards. "But you know your Dad is like...golden for your brother."

"I know, I know…" Montserrat didn't want to keep thinking about it because the more she would, the more likely she was to get actually upset. She'd managed to cool down since their last argument in public and she thought she was ready for a civilized talk with Gael, but it seemed like he disagreed.

"You want get some dinner?" Casey asked when she turned to go back into her office.

"Nah, I can't," Montserrat made a wave of her hand. "But bring me some chocolate brownies tomorrow?" Casey's scoff was answer enough. Montserrat playfully rolled her eyes. "Figured," she mumbled and headed out.

She walked into the hallway and started thinking about what exactly she would say to Rafael when she proposed he go and talk to Eddie. She didn't mind being yelled at, but...she wouldn't mind avoiding it either. She was rehearsing some phrases when she walked into the office.

"Dammit," she cursed after seeing the darkness. He'd gone.

Montserrat turned on her heels and returned to the main hallway where she saw Casey emerging from her own office. The ginger ADA gave her cousin a strange look as she caught up with Montserrat.

"I thought you said you were leaving…" Casey purposely trailed off.

"I was, I just had to talk to Rafael first but he's gone already," Montserrat crossed her arms. "That man never leaves his office before eight. I should be concerned."

Casey snorted and started leading towards the entrance doors. "Sometimes even he needs a break."

Montserrat playfully rolled his eyes. "I don't think he knows the definition of that word...nor do you, actually."

Casey chuckled. "Funny. So funny that I'm not bringing you any brownies for tomorrow." She opened an entrance door for Montserrat and followed her cousin out afterwards. "And it was gonna be a surprise."

"Yeah, right," Montserrat almost laughed in Casey's face.

They followed each other towards the street, but Casey's sudden stop made Montserrat bump into her. "Look, you still have your chance to talk to Rafael. He's getting coffee."

"Of course he is," Montserrat followed Casey's gaze to see the man buying a cup of coffee from a street vendor.

"You don't look so happy…" Casey said after seeing Montserrat's face.

"It's just I thought I had a night to think of what to say that won't get me yelled at."

Casey's snort was a teasing one and Montserrat knew it. "Good luck."

Montserrat shot a glare at her cousin. "You can go now." Casey's widening smirk only irritated Montserrat even more. Even as the ADA left, Montserrat could picture the smirk getting bigger. The entire Novak family was annoying, she thought. When she felt ready enough - or prepared to be yelled at, which ever one happened - she went in Rafael's direction.

"I'm curious, do you  _ever_  sleep at night?" her voice didn't even startle him despite being a bit engrossed in his phone.

He looked up with a deadpanning expression. "Detective, what are you doing here?"

"It's the street," Montserrat said like it was obvious, and it should have been. "And I was with Casey and my...brother…"

"Ah, I didn't hear any screaming...am I to assume that means you're good now?"

"No. Not even close." Montserrat didn't even want to go into that topic right now. "But I'm focusing on our case-"

"-how's that going?" Rafael's expression turned serious fast, almost concerned. It showed more this time than it had since they started on the case.

"To be honest?" Montserrat knew he'd regret nodding in a second. "Your friends are stonewalling us."

"Have you talked to Alex again-"

"-yes! And he just turns everything on Alex-"

"-and have you talked to Al-"

"-he closed the door on Amanda and Finn!" Montserrat said a tad louder than was necessary. She shot apologetic smiles at the passing people on the street before getting serious again. "And I figure it's pointless talking to Mrs. Muñoz because she's clueless about the whole case, though maybe now she's not. Did you happen to tell her something?"

"How would you -- how do you know we talked?" Rafael seemed almost on the fence about it.

"Because Ivana bumped into her and - I don't need that look you're giving me right now," Montserrat put a hand on her hip once she took notice of his expression. "If anyone should be giving that look it's me to you for talking to someone affiliated with the case."

"I didn't say anything, Novak. Give me some credit will you?" he started walking along the block, making her do the same beside him.

"Okay but I'm serious here, it's not a good idea to be so close to these people right now. They can manipulate you-"

Rafael scoffed. " _Seriously_ , give me some credit. I'm not easily manipulated-"

Montserrat moved quick and turned to be in front of him, forcing him to stop. "-it is when one of the people claims she's had history with you too." It was clear Rafael hadn't anticipated that move, but Montserrat wasn't going to let him off. "I know exactly what she meant, Rafael, so don't even deny it. Knowing that, and all the other history you have with these people, I  _really_  think you should listen to me. Alex is evading us, Yelina is bound to make you reconsider this whole case so really, our only option is Eddie and you're the only one who can talk to him."

Rafael looked at her in silence for a full minute in which Montserrat wasn't sure he would yell at her or not. He was professional - my God he was professional - but he admitted she had some point. He'd gotten far too close to the case than he had wanted to. In her perspective, she could be right. He wanted to believe that he could control himself. "If things get worse, I will talk to Eddie."

"Okay…" Montserrat nodded slowly, still waiting for him to add on a shout at the end. She ended up rambling things she shouldn't have so now she was being cautious.

Rafael recognized her cautious manner and rolled his eyes. "Novak, I'm not going to bite your head off. You're doing your job and no one's getting in the way, alright?"

"...okay," Montserrat bit her lip. She wanted to relax but it still felt far too easy.

"I'm good," Rafael's attempt at a smile wasn't all that good but Montserrat wouldn't point it out so blatantly.

She moved to the side to allow him to walk, but before he could she spoke up again, "If you need to talk, I'm-I'm here…"

"I am  _good_ , Novak," Rafael's tone was final and more like a warning for her to stop.

"Okay," Montserrat said quietly. She should probably take the win before she made things worse. "I'll see you tomorrow, then."

As she turned to leave, Rafael got that ping of guilt for being more harsh than usual. It was as he told her: she'd just been doing her job. He stopped walking and turned back to see if she was still around, but he had no luck.  _Too late now,_ he thought with an inward sigh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry! Had this planned to be published earlier but I had family visiting for all of April. Plus, I had some health problems myself so that got in the way.


	13. Playing With Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Montserrat does her best to help Rafael as Muñoz's case comes to an end, even when the ADA is snarkier than usual.

Montserrat sat on her therapist's couch, relaying with ease what was currently going on with her. It felt nice having a place to freely talk without fear of being snapped at. It was just  _easy_ , which showed a lot of progress she made since she first arrived. Dr. Weslin had that recorded every time Montserrat showed up too. Even now, while Montserrat debated by herself whether or not to take it easy on her brother, she showed significant to in the free space offered to talk in.

"I mean, Gael is just being overly dramatic. He's ignoring me and what's worse - or childish one could say - is that he's separating his girls from me too," Montserrat sighed, pausing to think about her older brother. "Sometimes I just want to smack him like when we were kids. We used to actually throw punches at each other, can you believe that? Dad had to come in and separate us. He'd yell at us for thirty minutes without break."

"It seems like your father has always been your mediator then," Weslin noted. "Does he have anything to say about this argument between you and your brother?"

"He doesn't know and honestly he shouldn't have to deal with this. I'm almost 30 and Gael is reaching his forties, we're grown adults acting ridiculous."

"Have you told this to Gael?"

"Please, he's not speaking to me. I have a very a good talent at irritating people, whether I want to in that moment or not. Maybe that's how I always get myself into problems." Montserrat said with a heavy resignation that Dr. Weslin gave her a strange look.

"We're not talking about your argument with your brother anymore, are we?"

Montserrat shrugged her shoulders in an attempt to be casual. "I guess not."

"Would you care to elaborate, then?"

"There's not much too it, really," Montserrat shrugged yet again.

Weslin had come to notice Montserrat only did this as an overly attempt at being casual when she neared the topic of her rape. It was like Montserrat tried pushing it all behind her to form a past.

"Maybe if I hadn't been so irritating at work, people would have given more of a damn about what happened to me," Montserrat finally spat out. "Maybe they wouldn't have been so quick to brush it away and transfer me."

"Montserrat, you're not blaming yourself for this right?" Dr. Weslin feared Montserrat had somehow regressed in her recovery.

"No," Montserrat said with absolute certainty. "It shouldn't have happened to me, period. I just meant maybe if I had acted better, people at my old job, who knew what happened, would have had more consideration for me." Montserrat didn't like to think a lot about her old job in Queens, but the people there had never been the kindest. She didn't expect - nor want for that matter - a whole sympathy party from them, but she didn't expect to be pushed out of the job either. "That's why I like where I am now. At least if anything happens to me again, I know people might care."

It was a rather cynical way of thinking, but Montserrat felt it to be nothing but the truth.

~0~

By the time Montserrat returned to the precinct, many things had already gone down. For starters, the team had discovered their mayor-to-be was using secret websites to chat with other women, sometimes going truly explicit. Poor Amanda had been the center of his attention the previous night.

"Alex claims wall street is setting him up," Rafael wearily repeated the excuse Alex had given him earlier in the morning after speaking to him about the pictures he sent to Amanda.

The rest of the team exchanged curious glances but no one, except Nick, dared to mention what they were thinking.

"What, you told him we were looking at his account?"

Rafael took the accusation somewhat calmly. He expected some type of accusation along those lines. "I gave him a chance to get out in front of this."

Nick seemed to be angered with the answer, as he firmly believed Rafael was on another plan. "So now not only is he tampering with witnesses, he has you covering it up for him!"

"Nick," Olivia's call made no sense for Nick.

"What!? It's what you're all thinking!"

"Did you find any evidence at all that Lindsay is shaking him down or that he's paying to hush her up?" Rafael's question seemed more like a challenge to defy his words, and it only irritated Nick more.

"There's nothing so far on the public sites, but we'll keep checking," Amanda's fingers hovered over her laptop.

"Do that."

"We will," Montserrat spoke up for the first time since the conversation started. Her curt, brief answer was enough indication she was still very much irritated with him.

He took the jab with a nod of his head. It was well deserved, he knew. "Since we're all clear…" he turned to go, but of course it wouldn't be easy to escape with Nick trailing behind him.

"That's not going to end well," Montserrat got up from her desk and headed for the lounge to get some needed coffee. As she was pouring herself warm coffee, Sonny came into the room. "You want some?" she asked without looking up.

"Sure." Sonny moved over and reached for a couple sugar packs he knew she liked.

"Did Nick come back in one piece?" Montserrat slid her coffee cup to Sonny then grabbed another for herself.

"Not sure. I left before he did," Sonny ripped open a sugar pack and let it all drown into his coffee. "I bet Barba is just trying to keep it together right now." Montserrat briefly paused her coffee pouring, something Sonny noticed but didn't comment on. "I mean, it can't be easy being childhood friends with someone who's, well...turning out not to be the righteous man he once knew."

Montserrat carefully returned the coffee pot to its place. "No, it can't be. But it doesn't give him a right to be so rude when we're just trying to help, and to mention doing our job." There was a particular sourness covering her tone, but Sonny felt like there was an underlying hurt somewhere there.

"Course not, but try being in his shoes for a moment."

Montserrat finally stopped altogether and turned to Sonny. "Is there something you want to say to me?"

"I'm not trying to poke or interfere in whatever you and Barba have going on-"

"-it's nothing," snapped Montserrat, but there was a subtle shift on her feet. "And if you're that interested to know, I'm just a little pissed off that he's being more snarky than usual when all I did was try to be nice and be there for him." As soon as she finished her quick, but feeling-covered, explanation she regretted it. Sonny gave her a look and the fact his lips were twitching to form a smile made her feel no better. "Please don't say anything," she sighed and went back to preparing her coffee. "It's really nothing. I'm just...I tried to be nice and he... practically barked in my face to leave him the hell alone."

"Did he actually say those words?"

"...no. It was more of a…rushed 'I'm good'," Montserrat closed her eyes as another realization hit her. "...which really just means he wasn't.  _Dammit_."

Sonny patted her back and took over the coffee preparation.

Montserrat released a big sigh and brought her fingers to pinch the bridge of her nose. "And me being the dumbass that I am, missed that." Sonny laughed beside her. "In my defense, I have my own problems too so my temperament is off!"

Sonny held her coffee cup to her with his usual smile. "No one blames you."

"I think one person does," Montserrat took her coffee cup and headed back for the bullpen.

Nick was returning as well but he seemed to be physically fine. "Guys like Barba, too smart for their own good."

"I'm sure he said the same about you," Olivia gave him a pat on the arm as he passed by.

"What, everyone thinks we should just let this go?" Nick looked around to see who was on that side of the coin.

"It's not that we want to," Montserrat spoke up. "But...we really don't have anything incriminating on Muñoz."

"Muñoz sent out some selfies but that's not a sex crime," Fin said before he chuckled. "All I know is I don't want to see any more of them."

Nick was frustrated that no one was taking him serious. "It's not just selfies, all right? This clown could be mayor. He opened himself up to blackmail, right? Eddie had cash. Where did he get it from, huh? This could just be the tip of the iceberg."

"I think we saw more than just the tip," Finn snickered at his spot.

Olivia motioned him to stop before the comments got worse. "Nick, even if you're right, this is a political corruption case. We'd have to hand it over to the feds anyway. What are we going to hand over? The pics he sent to Rollins?"

The woman in question cleared her throat at her desk. She'd been immersed in her computer ever since Rafael had left. "It looks like I may not be the only one. Enrique Trouble's popping up on other sites. It goes back over a year."

Hearing this made the rest of the team gather behind her chair to see her screen.

"Look, I found ten so far!"

"That makes him a dog, not a criminal," Fin still shrugged.

"That's not the word I'd use to describe him," Montserrat said before sipping her coffee.

"Well, one of these women that he was sexting with just got an executive position at the New York gaming commission," Amanda revealed and brought up the profile of said woman. "I wonder who could have pulled those strings."

"Anna Please," Olivia read off the screen. "She have any governmental background?"

"Doesn't seem like it."

"Hold up. I've seen this girl on a screen before, and it wasn't on c-span," Finn said with a curious smile.

~0~

"I don't understand this. I already  _have_  the position," the woman named Anna insisted for the second time, already sounding annoyed to the two detectives tailing her down the hallway.

"We have a few background questions," Finn simply repeated their excuse, which was the honest truth anyways.

"Mhm," agreed Montserrat, not quite in the mood for games. She wanted to be direct. "Your resume says you went to university of Michigan, but they don't have any record of you attending."

There was a brief flash of panicked on Anna's face as she sat at her desk. "They don't? Mm-mm. I should fix that. I was more like auditing."

 _Lies_. Montserrat barely restrained herself from rolling her eyes. "Really? What subjects?"

"Dance and movement."

"No acting?"

Anna laughed casually, at least that was her attempt. "No. I never studied any acting."

Montserrat gave the woman one look before glancing at Finn. The man seemed giddy as he reached inside his jacket's pocket.

"That's funny, Amber, because my partner here says you're a real natural in - what is it, Finn?"

"This is my favorite," Finn turned over a movie box he'd brought with them. "Million Dollar a Night Baby."

With that in the air, Amber didn't see any point in lying anymore. She released a heavy sigh and looked past the two detectives to the open door. "Okay, this is unfair. It was a long time ago. I didn't do any adult films after that. Are you from vice?" she paused to once again look at the open door. She was being extra quiet now. "I didn't do anything illegal."

"Yeah, we're not so interested in your past jobs," Montserrat clarified. She planted her hands on the desk and leaned forwards. "We want to know how you got your job here. Did Enrique Trouble put in a call for you?"

Amber leveled Montserrat's look, not looking so intimidated as they'd hoped. "So what if he did? It's Albany. Believe me, there are people a lot less qualified than I am working here."

Of course, Montserrat wasn't one to lose so easily. "Fine, we'll remember that as we get your ass fired. Think about that then give us a call," she smiled sweetly then turned to leave with Finn.

They didn't make it out the office door when Amber called for them to stop.

~0~

"I'm home," called Montserrat as soon as she walked into her apartment. She could hear clinging and clanging from Kara's room while she set her things down.

A couple minutes later, Kara emerged from the hallway wearing a pretty blue dress that hugged her body. Her hair was curled and pulled back by two clips.

"Stark red lipstick," Montserrat smirked as she headed by for the kitchen. "That can only mean someone's got a hot date tonight."

"Oh, you betcha," Kara hurriedly patted down her dress as if it needed more help. "He finally asked."

"Who?" Montserrat returned holding a bag of trail mix.

As Kara opened her mouth, someone knocked on the door. Kara hushed up and went to answer instead.

"Oh hell  _no_ ," Montserrat honestly blamed herself for not realizing quicker.

"Good thing is you know him," Kara pulled Sonny right into the apartment, skipping all the hellos and whatnot.

"Unfortunately."

"Montse," went both with the same disapproval.

"No," Montserrat stuffed more trail mix into her mouth. "If I don't see it, it's not real." And with that, she turned away from the two with no intention of looking back.

"You're a child!" Kara shouted.

Sonny was smarter in that aspect and said something that definitely made Montserrat look back. "And I'll make sure to let you know how it went tomorrow."

"You wouldn't…"

Sonny's smile said it all. "See you later, partner."

Montserrat practically shouted for them to get going already. She shivered once she was alone and dreaded what Sonny would tell her tomorrow, and even more so what Kara would say.

~0~

Rafael didn't think he would ever have to make such a grim visit to one of his old friends. One friend was already borderlining the enemy line, in Alex's perspective anyways. Rafael still had hope - albeit a tiny hope - that Alex would come to his senses sooner or later. For now, he had to try to get Eddie to come back.

He found the old friend in a familiar spot, the same park he used to play at when he was a kid.

"Hey, Raffi. What's good, hermano? How you find me here?" Eddie scooted on the park bench to make more room.

"I stopped by your place, saw your mom," Rafael took the seat but purposely kept a distance. It was awful being like that with an old friend.

"My mom looks good," Eddie knew what Rafael had come for, but he didn't want to get to it. He didn't want to argue.

"Bueno, we got to talk-"

"You know, they...they fixed this park since we were kids, right?" Eddie cut in.

"Yeah, they did. I remember how you always used to look out for me here," Rafael leaned back against the bench. Talking about their good days wasn't helping, but he couldn't stop. "When that gang from P.S. 109 would come after me for my lunch money...you'd put your arm around me. You'd walk me to school. You said anybody that hurt me would have to deal with you."

"You're my brother, Raffi. I would never have learned English if it wasn't for you. We're even, right?"

"I know that. You're loyal...To a fault," Rafael paused, taking a breath in in order to deal with what came next.

"We're not talking about p.S. 109 now, are we?" Eddie took the silence as the answer. "How much trouble am I in, Raffi?"

"Witness tampering, bribery…Eddie, those are felonies."

"I can't... I can't roll on Alex-"

Perhaps it was the final straw in the whole case, or maybe his irritation towards Alex and his blatant disregard for their friend finally got to Rafael, but he snapped. "You've got - you have got to think about yourself now! Jail's gonna go hard for an ex C.O!"

"Raffi, Alex has always been good to me, okay? He said when he becomes mayor, he's going to get me a job at one P.P-"

"Listen to me," Rafael once again snapped. He turned his body towards Eddie, hoping he could get through to Eddie once and for all. "Eddie, Alex is looking out for  _himself_  now. You've got your son and your mother to think about. You're not gonna be any good to them upstate."

Eddie looked out to the playground where his son was playing. "I can't hurt Alex. You tell me what I should do. You were always the smart one."

Well, at least one was still good.

~0~

While Amanda and Finn interrogated Eddie (with his lawyer present), Montserrat, Olivia, Nick and Sonny watched from behind the one-way glass. Eddie was practically singing like a canary about Alex's dirty work.

"We got him now," Nick said with visible pride. Everyone looked at him but there was a hesitancy to agree. "What? It's only right with everything Muñoz did."

"Don't get so cocky," Montserrat warned. "It's not real until the prosecutor gets the case."

"It's basically a done deal," Nick waved a hand at them and walked off.

"How horrible," Montserrat mumbled and started to leave as well. Olivia would remain to oversee the rest of the interrogation. "I don't want to even imagine how Rafael is feeling."

"He's the one who got Eddie to spill, so...he must be seeing the light," Nick said, stopping under the hallway threshold.

"Say that to his face," Sonny went right to his desk.

"You think I won't?"

" _Oh_ ," both Montserrat and Sonny collectively scoffed, making Nick roll his eyes.

"We know you will," Montserrat took a seat at her desk.

Just as the three were about to have a round, Olivia emerged from the hallway.

"We got him?" Nick was the first to ask, missing how Montserrat and Sonny glanced at each other.

"Yes…" but judging by Olivia's face there was more than she was telling. "We're going to have to do some digging."

~0~

After doing some digging, Olivia immediately sent Montserrat and Sonny to a high school in Yonkers that wasn't even that far from them.

"Is he frikin kidding me?" Montserrat continued to repeat even as the principal of the school led her and Sonny down a crowded hallway.

Sonny didn't say much but it was clear he was disgusted as he saw more of the innocent students walking by. They were targets of their next mayor-to-be.

Jodie Lanier was not a school teacher, far from it. She was a fifteen year old student with an addiction to her cellphone. The blonde girl was taken to a secluded classroom in order to be talked to.

"If this is about the mall, I paid for these bracelets," Jodie hugged her wrist full of bracelets.

"It's about Alex Muñoz," Sonny's response made the girl stiffen.

"I-I don't know who that is."

"No?" Montserrat raised an eyebrow. She had no mood to tolerate the girl's lies. "Then why is he giving you money? And I would be careful with how you talk to a detective."

"O-okay. I know who he is, but I've never met him," Jodie said quickly.

"Not in person? How about on social media?" Montserrat glanced at Sonny who was nodding in agreement. "I mean, you've exchanged messages."

"I can't talk to you about this," Jodie's eyes flickered between the detectives, feeling more and more trapped.

"Because that's why he's paying you?" Sonny's question was met with silence. "Look, Jodie, you're not in any trouble here."

"Then can I go?"

"Soon. But we need to take a look at your cell phone."

Jodie quickly shook her head. "No way. I have rights!" But seeing the two serious detectives made her falter. "Don't I?"

"Okay, Jodie, this is how it'll work if you don't cooperate right now," Montserrat stepped forwards, intimidating the girl without effort. "If you don't hand the phone over right now, we can and  _will_  get a warrant for it. However, to do that we'll have to talk to your mom."

Bingo, the right words had been said.

"Please don't call my mom."

~0~

"Okay Nick,  _now_  we got him," Olivia said after reviewing their evidence against Alex. And boy was it a lot.

"Now what?" Amanda looked at the rest of the group, all solemnly quiet due to the problems they were about to cause for not only their friend, but for the city itself. "The election is happening and like it or not, what Barba said is true. Should we attack before or after?"

"We need to do it now," Finn said before anyone else spoke up. "It'll be a lot harder to make the case when he had even more power."

"It's not quite up to us, though," Olivia reminded them all where the case would be going.

"But it will be handled before anything happens," Nick said the obvious.

"We have to hand this over to Barba," Olivia pulled her glasses off and rubbed her forehead. It was going to be a difficult conversation.

"Let me do it," Montserrat's volunteer came as a surprise to the group, although not so much for Sonny. Whoever volunteered would be volunteering to get yelled at and probably insulted.

The job was hers.

~0~

The last thing Rafael expected was for Montserrat to stop by his office. She came with a mission, however, and it was not a good one.

"Sorry," she felt the need to say as he watched him go through the evidence.

Rafael did a double-take at her, seeming almost incredulous. For a split second, Montserrat thought she did something wrong again.

"Oh God, what I say now?" she sighed.

"Nothing," Rafael said quietly then returned his attention to the report. "Absolutely nothing," he mumbled under his breath.

"When are you handing that over to the special prosecutor?" she then asked, though the fact she was rocking on her feet was signal enough of her nervousness.

"I... I'm not sure. I want Alex - I want  _him_  to do it out of his own accord. Be the man he used to be."

Montserrat could say that was a failed plan, but she thought she should be more cautious with her words. "But you just said it. He's someone else now. You can't keep giving him chances you wouldn't offer other perps."

The label hurt more than it should've because it was true.

"I have to try," Rafael insisted, pushing himself up from his seat. He knew what she was thinking - that he was biased, and he probably was - but he needed to do it one more time, at least one more time to say he did everything he could. "Maybe now that he knows what's coming, he'll want to do the right thing."

Montserrat watched him move around the office, trying to convince himself that things could be turned down the right path. She knew what the outcome would be and she was pretty sure that he knew too. He was just trying to convincing himself Alex would take the last chance.

"That's your plan?" she took a seat on his desk, ignoring his brief look for that, and crossed her legs. "Stupidly waste your time? And at night, by the way?"

"It's not a waste of time," he snapped. "I'm giving him the opportunity-"

"-he doesn't  _want_  an opportunity!" Montserrat suddenly snapped louder than he had. "C'mon, Rafael, you're too smart for that. How did Nick put it? You're too smart for your own good!"

Rafael stopped his pacing to glare at her, but even then Montserrat didn't back down. She'd grown very used to it by now. Still, she knew this was a different situation, one that had him going crazier than usual. That pushed her guilt.

"You're not desisting, are you?"

"Not at all."

 _You stubborn man_. Montserrat inwardly sighed but still ventured to help him. "Fine. Then I'm coming with."

Rafael paused for another second, thinking it was a joke or another tactic to get him to stop. But when she didn't retract, he became uncomfortable. "Why?"

"Because you're hell-bent on losing your job and because I'm an idiot who loves being yelled at."

That sting was of course meant for him and it was well delivered, but she didn't actually seem to be upset. That just made things odder. He knew he'd been unnecessarily rude to her, in the same situation they were in again, and yet she was stupid enough to come back for more?

"No, absolutely not," he said in the end, but he should've known who he was dealing with.

"You don't have a choice. I'm coming, end of story. Or I go and arrest Alex myself. I'm sure Nick would accompany me if I asked."

Rafael's glare returned, and deeper too, but he knew when he lost...even though it wasn't often. Montserrat got him. In another moment, he would've been impressed. "First, get off my desk."

"Sorry," Montserrat quickly got off and smiled cheerfully.

"Second of all, don't ever threaten me like that again."

"That I cannot promise. You have a tendency to only understand if you're being threatened," Montserrat shrugged and moved to the side. She gestured towards the desk where the evidence rested. "Get what you need."

Rafael looked at her for a full minute before walking up to his desk. Before sifting through the evidence, he glanced at her. "Novak, you're setting yourself up for trouble."

"I know," Montserrat said with all honesty. Her bluntness was even more surprising to him.

She was dead serious.

~0~

The flashing lights in the building would make Montserrat blind if she remained there for too long. Fifteen minutes of standing there were already doing a number on her.

"Now I see why you say 'no' to these events," she told Rafael while she rubbed her eyes.

The ADA was quietly standing beside her, eyes trained on the incoming guests. So many important people had passed by except for the one he needed. Eventually, he began to hear Alex's voice greeting those at the entrance. It was, of course, sucking up.

"Do you want me to come with you, or…?" Montserrat trailed off when Rafael raised a hand indicating her stop.

"Just make sure no one else follows," he curtly warned before taking off.

Montserrat frowned after him. She hated the way he was talking to her, but she tried to remind herself his situation. It was courtesy, leniency, she was trying to offer...but he was pushing her buttons.

"Be the bigger person, be the bigger person," Montserrat mumbled under her breath as she walked past the guests.

"Now? Seriously?" She arrived in time to see Alex's response to Rafael's probable polite asking for a talk.

The local reverend of the place came forwards, almost reeling Alex away from Rafael. "There's a room full of union leaders and CEOs waiting to hear how he's going to save the city."

Montserrat practically pushed her way through the crowd in order to cleverly respond with, "Then unless you want that whole room of Union leaders and CEOs to hear that your friend may be guilty - of several serious charges by the way - you should listen to my friend."

Rafael gave her a side-glance, seemingly thankful for the jab.

"Rafael, todo bien?" Yelina had done the same as Montserrat - moved people out of her way to get there, but the only difference was she did in a lavender cocktail dress.

Rafael kept a straight face when he replied. "Alex and I need to talk."

"Ahora?"

"Well, let's get a nice shot," the priest pulled Yelina towards a photographer and a group of waiting guests. "Mr. Slater, will you join us?"

"I won't be long," Alex promised Yelina, giving her a long kiss afterwards.

Montserrat rolled her eyes in plain sight. She was so done with these people.

"Do you know what they're going to talk about?" Yelina approached Montserrat almost immediately after Rafael left with Alex.

Montserrat cleared her throat and practically looked anywhere but Yelina's face. "I...may have an idea, but I definitely know you're not gonna like it." And even though she kept true to her words, she could tell that Yelina had figured out a good portion of the situation. "I'm so sorry," Montserrat could only say before leaving herself.

As she exited the building, she could see the two shadows of men across the street. She's didn't want to admit that she could hear some pieces of their conversation - turning into an argument real fast, she might add - but it was inevitable. What she was lost on was how someone could deny what was so blatantly true especially when it hit them in the face. Because that's exactly what Alex was doing, even when Rafael kept springing new evidence right to Alex's face.

In fact, Alex was getting  _offended_  as if he  _had_  a reason to get offended. It was ridiculous.

Rafael was left to walk the street alone since, according to Alex - and a hidden truth - he was no longer friends with the people of his neighborhood. Montserrat felt sympathy for them all, but even more for her friend. And by this point, Rafael was going to go mad. It hurt that he was being accused of purposely drowning his once best friend into an abyss. As if  _he_  was the wrong one.

One thing Montserrat was sure of was that friendship was  _over_. The bad blood was too much.

"Rafael! Hey! Stop walking!" Montserrat sprinted after him down the street. "Would you - I  _know_  you can hear me!"

Finally, the ADA stopped and turned sideways, his expression warning her to stay away. Of course, Montserrat wasn't one to always listen. "Novak, you're free to go."

Montserrat snorted, her offence etching across her face. "No one was threatening with me with a gun, Rafael. I came for  _you_. As backup. As... _support_  because I can't imagine what you're feeling. I wouldn't be able to take it."

"I can. You can go-"

"-I'm not leaving you alone like this! What the hell did Alex tell you?"

"That he doesn't care, basically. He has…" Rafael stopped for a second, still unable to believe where they were now. "He has no morals left. So now I have to do what my job tells me to."

"You're going to turn him in," Montserrat quietly said. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't be," Rafael said then turned to leave.

"Well…" Montserrat hesitated to follow, knowing she was just pushing his anger to double, but it wasn't a good idea to leave him alone either. "Do you want to go get some drinks? Coffee maybe…?" She'd only taken a couple steps in his direction when he whirled around with newfound anger.

"Novak, leave me the hell alone! I don't want your company, I don't need anyone else! So leave me alone already!"

Montserrat blinked in shock at his outburst. Of course she figured she'd finally pushed the right button of his to make him snap like that. She couldn't say she was surprised. "Sorry…" she cleared her throat and brought her coat closer to her chest. "I'll...see you tomorrow, then." She started turning in the opposite direction and only paused for a second to apologize again.

Rafael shook his head and started on his own way home, but as he walked he remembered this wasn't the first time he snapped at Montserrat while she was trying to help him...the guilt started settling in. He didn't feel guilt very often, which was what made it hard to ignore this one. "Dammit," he muttered to himself before turning back. He didn't exactly know what he was doing but his feet were moving in Montserrat's direction, and fast too.

He spotted the familiar red hair nearly at the end of the block. She was on the phone...and he started to overhear.

"No, I'm coming home right now. Jesus, who are you? My father?" Montserrat snorted at whoever was on the other line. "Oh no, if you're at my place then I'm not coming home for a long time."

Montserrat pushed the pedestrian button to cross the street and waited her turn. "I  _did_  go with Rafael to that stupid event but in the end I got the worst of it." There was a brief pause before Montserrat snorted again. "Nah, he's being an ass. I'll go check up on him tomorrow morning." Another pause passed then Montserrat started bidding goodbye. "Yeah, whatever. See you tomorrow, Carisi." She stuffed her phone into her coat's pocket and continued to wait for the light to switch.

Montserrat heard someone clear their throat followed by a, "So you talk to Carisi at this hour?"

Montserrat playfully rolled her eyes. The pedestrian light switched to go so she stepped onto the road to cross the street. "What do you care if I talk to Sonny?"

"I'm just curious," Rafael walked alongside her.

"Why are you back?" Montserrat's question was asked in the a tiring manner, as if she'd done this over and over. (And she had). Two times was enough to get a hint, though.

"I realized I acted like…"

Montserrat stopped once they'd crossed the street and turned to face him. "...an ass? Yeah. You are. It's why I was giving you the night to cool off."

Rafael's smile was wide and amused. "Really? And you were still going to come back?"

Montserrat wanted to ignore his amusement but she somehow ended up smiling as well. "Yeah. You're an extra rude prick but I'm letting it go on account of the situation."

Despite the light atmosphere between them, Rafael had to get serious. And when he did, the guilt returned. "Montserrat, I'm...you came with me - you  _offered_  to come with me and I...I yelled...I was…"

Montserrat smiled even wider when she realized what he was attempting to do. She would've let it go on for pure amusement but she figured he was already having enough troubles, so she gave him a break and surprised him with a hug.

"What are you doing…?" Rafael went stiff, to the point where Montserrat nearly laughed.

"Hugging you because you need it," she mumbled. "I'm sorry about Alex."

"So am I," Rafael admitted. "But don't count him out. He's a winner." Montserrat scoffed, but he was quite serious. "When I was seven, my mom said, 'stick with Alex. He'll be mayor of New York someday.' She never said that about me."

"But you turned out even better," Montserrat said automatically and missed his brief smile. 

"It's politics. No danger of a traffic jam on the high road."

"He was still he was your friend-"

"-so was Yelina. She thinks this was personal, not professional."

"Stop," Montserrat drew away from him to look him in the eyes. "If they'd been your friends, they wouldn't have put you through all of that. It's on them, not on you."

"Thank you," Rafael said after a minute. He looked at her for a minute while it donned on him she'd been the only one to be with him throughout the entire case, even when he probably didn't deserve it. He pulled her back for another hug, startling her, but it was ironic since he wasn't able to hug back the way Montserrat would expect. It showed he didn't do a lot of hugging in his life...which was a shame because he had the arms for it...and a good scent.

 _Get ahold of yourself, Montse_ , she silently berated herself.

"Is your brother still not talking to you?"

Montserrat was startled by the question. "No. In his perspective, I'm still the ungrateful daughter who insulted our father." Her sarcastic remark wasn't enough to make it seem like it hurt less. But just like Rafael, a grimness settled across her face. "He's not letting me talk to my nieces, nor see them. I don't have a lot of family in New York, so...it's a little hard dealing with it…"

"I know," Rafael agreed. "You'll get through this."

"...so will you," Montserrat whispered.

She sincerely hoped they could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is probably my favorite episode ever. It just always broke my heart at the end when Rafael says the things about his mother pushing him with Alex and the Yelina part and yet all Liv said was 'you had a job and you did it'. Like I get she was trying to help but someone could've said something more!? Least Montse was around this time ;)

**Author's Note:**

> Soo, one more thing: I will be changing the timeline and moving things around like Olivia already being a Sergeant. 
> 
> Other than that, thanks to those who decide to read! :)


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